SYNTHESIS OF LARGE ARRAYS OF WELL-ALIGNED CARBON NANOTUBES ON GLASS

Free-standing aligned carbon nanotubes have previously been grown. abo ve 700 degrees C on mesoporous silica embedded with iron nanoparticles . Here, carbon nanotubes aligned over areas up to several square centi meters were grown on nickel-coated glass below 666 degrees C by plasma -enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Acetylene gas was us ed as the carbon source and ammonia gas was used asa catalyst and dilu tion gas. Nanotubes with controllable diameters from 20 to 400 nanomet ers and lengths from 0.1 to 50 micrometers were obtained. Using this m ethod, large panels of aligned carbon nanotubes can be made under cond itions that are suitable for device fabrication.