Synthesis of high purity single-walled carbon nanotubes from ethanol by catalytic gas flow CVD reactions

Highly pure single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with their contents >96% of the total products were achieved by chemical vapour deposition gas flow reactions using ethanol as the carbon source. The high purity SWNTs were formed under critically controlled synthesis conditions and by applying a high hydrogen flow, under which the non-catalytic condensation of carbon was completely suppressed. Purification of the products in acid at ambient conditions readily yielded over 99% pure SWNT products, as the only impurities left in the products were iron particles of clean surface. Therefore, the present study demonstrates the full potential of the CVD gas flow reactions in continuous production of high quality SWNTs. Comparable syntheses were conducted using other alcohols in place of ethanol and it was found that high alkyl alcohols like isopropanol and hexanol produced more amorphous carbon while methanol produced no carbon. The high yield growth of SWNTs was attributed greatly to the reaction chemistry of ethanol and the ‘right’ amount of hydrogen in the system, as discussed.