Growth and characterization of bamboo-shaped carbon nanotubes using nanocluster-assembled ZnO:Co thin films as catalyst

• Main Authors: Tay, Beng Kang, Zhao, Z. W., Lei, W., Zhang, X. B., Chen, J. S.
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/99612; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/13643
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Bamboo-shaped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) had been successfully fabricated by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method, in which nanocluster-assembled ZnO:Co thin film was used as catalyst. It was found that bamboo-shaped CNTs were generally grown in a direction perpendicularly to the substrate surface with the tops of CNTs dominated by the droplet-like catalyst covered by the carbon layer. The diameter of CNTs was ranged from 20–50 nm. High resolution of TEM image showed that the typical CNT had a multi-walled structure with an inner core presented. The ordered graphite layers were inclined to an axis of CNT about 18° and the interlayer space of a CNT was about 0.35 nm. Two peaks in Raman spectrum at 1586 cm−1 and 1372 cm−1 were identified as G-band and D-band for graphite, respectively. The results showed that catalyst based on ZnO:Co thin films could be used for the growth of CNTs with bamboo-shaped structure.