Fabrication of short and straight carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition

A mass of carbon nanotubes with straight and short bodies was produced by chemical vapor deposition of methane over Ni/Al2O3. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis were used to analyze the synthesized carbon nanotubes. The results showed that they were well-graphitized multi-walled nanotubes and had not tangled together. Their average length was several hundreds of nanometers, suitable for their use as a nanometer-scale material.