Single-walled carbon nanotubes produced by cw CO2-laser ablation: study ofparameters important for their formation

The production of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using the cw CO2-l aser ablation technique is reported. Different metals and metal concentrati ons in the carbon targets as well as different buffer gases and gas pressur es have been used in order to study their influence on the formation of SWN Ts. It is shown that the conditions near the evaporation zone, i.e. especia lly the local temperature environment induced by the laser radiation as wel l as the used metals play a key role in the formation process of SWNTs. Emp loying a very simple experimental setup the cw CO2-laser ablation technique easily provides the environment favorable for the growth of high quality S WNT material under a wide range of experimental conditions.