Economic growth of vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes in nitrogen atmosphere

Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) arrays are widely studied because of their immense potential in a wide range of applications. In order to tailor the properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for a particular application, vertical alignment in the form of sheet is a major breakthrough. Herein we report an economic and effective strategy developed to synthesise aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube sheets using Al powder as buffer layer. We achieved easy growth of VACNTs sheets using toluene/ferrocene solution in a two-zone furnace by chemical vapor deposition method. First zone was set at temperature 200 ° C and other zone was set at temperature 750 ° C for the synthesis of VACNTs. Almost 500 µm long VACNT sheet was grown. We observed the significant growth of VACNT sheet on Al powdered quartz substrate in nitrogen medium. Uniform length of CNTs was maintained all over the sheet and additionally nitrogen is an economical alternative rather than other inert gases. Copyright © 2015 VBRI Press.