Cadmium-catalyzed surface growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes with high efficiency

We demonstrate that cadmium (Cd) can catalyze the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with high efficiency. The Cd nanocatalysts, prepared using a diblock copolymer templating method, were uniformly spaced over a large deposition area with an average diameter of 1.9 nm and narrow size distribution. By using the normal-heating and fast-heating method, random and horizontally aligned arrays of SWNTs can be generated. The density of the SWNTs can be altered by the chemical vapor deposition conditions. The morphology and microstructure of the SWNTs characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that the grown nanotubes do not have carbonaceous particles and have good crystallinity. In addition, after careful check with superlong nanotubes 735 out of 790 nanotubes were found to be deposited with Ag (93%) and only 7% SWNTs without Ag deposition. While for superlong SWNT arrays from Fe, 32% long SWNTs without Ag deposition was found, the high percentage of SWNTs with Ag deposition from Cd indicates that the SWNTs have better conductivity and better structural uniformity with less defects.