Abstract Submitted to the    NANOTUBE'04 Conference:

Carbon nanocoils are expected to applications such as nano-springs, electromagnetic wave absorbers, and field emission displays due to their unique shape. By using iron coated indium-tin-oxide substrates as catalysts, carbon nanocoils can be grown in high yield with catalytic chemical vapor deposition. For mass-production of carbon nanocoils, we have developed powder catalysts consisting of oxides of Fe, In, and Sn. In this study, Fe-In-Sn-O powder catalysts were prepared by coprecipitating Fe, In, and Sn ions with alkaline solution. To find the optimum composition ratios of Fe, In, and Sn, we prepared Fe-In-Sn-O powder catalysts with various composition ratios and performed chemical vapor deposition of carbon nanocoils using these powder catalysts. In this study, it is found that the optimum composition ratio of Fe-In-Sn-O powder catalysts lies between Fe:In:Sn=3:0.3:0.1 and Fe:In:Sn=3:1:0.1. From X-ray diffraction measurements of the catalysts prepared in this study, it is also found that the particle size of Fe₂O₃ in the catalyst is controlled by In₂O₃ and SnO₂ and this is crucial for the growth of carbon nanocoils.