Growth of carbon nanotubes by fullerene decomposition in the presence of transition metals

Carbon nanotubes were formed on HOPG when the graphite faces were exposed t o a stainless steel C-60 evaporator heated to 450 degrees C. No nanotubes w ere found on gold under the same conditions or when a quartz oven was used as the C-60 evaporator. Interesting conical nanostructures were found in th e insoluble residue from the stainless steel oven. We interpret the nanotub e formation to be due to the presence of small carbon fragments produced by the catalytic decomposition of C-60 in the oven. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.