Synthesis of single and multi-shell carbon nanotubes

We report here interesting growth morphologies produced during the electric arc-discharge between a graphite cathode and different composite metal-graphite anodes: when the metal is pure cobalt powder, we obtain, under certain conditions of pressure and cobalt content in the electrode, many single-shell carbon nanotubes of 1–2 nm diameter which appear in the soot, webs, threads (in the reactor chamber) and also on a collaret that forms around the conventional deposit containing multi-shell nanotubes. When the metal is pure manganese powder, we obtain multi-layer hollow carbon fibers in the soot similar to the carbon fibers grown by catalytic chemical vapor deposition. Furthermore, many fibers have a good portion of the length filled with metal. We present here high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images of these structures.