Acetylene-Accelerated Alcohol Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of Vertically Aligned Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Addition of only 1% acetylene into ethanol was found to enhance the growth rate of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by up to 10-fold. This accelerated growth, however, only occurred in the presence of ethanol, whereas pure acetylene at the same partial pressure resulted in negligible growth and quickly deactivated the catalyst. The dormant catalyst could be revived by reintroduction of ethanol, indicating that catalyst deactivation is divided into reversible and irreversible stages. Since the thermal decomposition of ethanol also yields some amount of acetylene, the possible contribution to the formation of SWNTs from these decomposed gases is also discussed.