Fe-containing mesoporous film hosts for carbon nanotubes

Evaporation-induced self-assembly via spin coating has been employed for the formation of mesoporous films from preformed pure-silica and Fe-containing silica/triblock copolymer/ethanol solutions. The X-ray diffraction results reveal the formation of a Pn3m cubic mesophase structure on silicon wafer. The films are smooth and homogeneous without any cracks or corrugations. Thus, cubic pure-silica and Fe-containing mesoporous films have been obtained having an accessible mesoporous channel system suitable for growth of carbon nanotubes by catalytic decomposition of acetylene. The Raman spectroscopy results show that multiwalled carbon nanotubes are formed on the Fe-containing mesoporous film supports.