En route to controlled catalytic CVD synthesis of densely packed and vertically aligned nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube arrays
Author(s)
Boncel, Slawomir
Pattinson, Sebastian W
Geiser, Valerie
Shaffer, Milo SP
Koziol, Krzysztof KK
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The catalytic chemical vapour deposition (c-CVD) technique was applied in the synthesis of vertically aligned arrays of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs). A mixture of toluene (main carbon source), pyrazine (1,4-diazine, nitrogen source) and ferrocene (catalyst precursor) was used as the injection feedstock. To optimize conditions for growing the most dense and aligned N-CNT arrays, we investigated the influence of key parameters, i.e., growth temperature (660, 760 and 860 °C), composition of the feedstock and time of growth, on morphology and properties of N-CNTs. The presence of nitrogen species in the hot zone of the quartz reactor decreased the growth rate of N-CNTs down to about one twentieth compared to the growth rate of multi-wall CNTs (MWCNTs). As revealed by electron microscopy studies (SEM, TEM), the individual N-CNTs (half as thick as MWCNTs) grown under the optimal conditions were characterized by a superior straightness of the outer walls, which translated into a high alignment of dense nanotube arrays, i.e., 5 × 108 nanotubes per mm2 (100 times more than for MWCNTs grown in the absence of nitrogen precursor). In turn, the internal crystallographic order of the N-CNTs was found to be of a ‘bamboo’-like or ‘membrane’-like (multi-compartmental structure) morphology. The nitrogen content in the nanotube products, which ranged from 0.0 to 3.0 wt %, was controlled through the concentration of pyrazine in the feedstock. Moreover, as revealed by Raman/FT-IR spectroscopy, the incorporation of nitrogen atoms into the nanotube walls was found to be proportional to the number of deviations from the sp2-hybridisation of graphene C-atoms. As studied by XRD, the temperature and the [pyrazine]/[ferrocene] ratio in the feedstock affected the composition of the catalyst particles, and hence changed the growth mechanism of individual N-CNTs into a ‘mixed base-and-tip’ (primarily of the base-type) type as compared to the purely ‘base’-type for undoped MWCNTs.
Date Issued
2014-03-03
Date Acceptance
2014-02-05
Citation
Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 2014, 5, pp.219-233
ISSN
2190-4286
Publisher
Beilstein-Institut
Start Page
219
End Page
233
Journal / Book Title
Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
Volume
5
Copyright Statement
© 2014 Boncel et al; licensee Beilstein-Institut. This is an Open Access article under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000332782100001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Physical Sciences
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Physics, Applied
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Materials Science
Physics
carbon nanotubes
catalytic chemical vapour deposition
crystallinity
nitrogen doping
vertically aligned nanotube arrays
FIELD-EMISSION
THERMAL-DECOMPOSITION
ARC-DISCHARGE
GROWTH
NITRIDE
INFILTRATION
MORPHOLOGY
PYROLYSIS
DIAMETER
DENSITY
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2014-03-03