Abstract Submitted to the    NANOTUBE'04 Conference:

It is well known that research on carbon nanotubes was increased since the discover in 1991[1]. Due to their particular structures and extraordinary properties, carbon nanotubes are promising for multiple applications including nanoelectronic devices, catalyst, strong composite materials and adsorbents for gas separation or storage, etc. Here we present a route of preparation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of coal gas over patterned catalyst. Ferritin with homogeneous nanometer iron cores was found to be an ideal catalyst that can be located on specific sites on substrate surfaces. Civil coal gas was adopted as convenient carbon feedback for growth of CNTs. The asymmetrical Y-branches in CNTs found in our experiments may be related to presence of sulfur in the coal gas. The structure and morphology of CNTs can be controlled by catalyst and process parameters. The growth mechanism of the CNTs derived from coal gas was discussed in terms of the catalyst property and the coal gas composition. The products were characterized by SEM, TEM, and Raman spectroscopy.

References: [1]S. Iijima, Nature, 354(1991)56.