New technique of synthesizing single-walled carbon nanotubes from ethanol using fluidized-bed over Fe-Mo/MgO catalyst.

A new technique of synthesizing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) has been developed by means of the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method from ethanol over MgO supported catalyst using fluidized-bed. Ethanol vapor was introduced into the fluidized-bed from a temperature-controlled bubbler by the flow of Ar without rotary pump. With this technique, the reaction conditions can be controlled simply. The fluidized-bed was applied as the reactor instead of quartz boats. Ethanol vapor and the powder of catalyst can be mixed with each other more sufficiently. MgO support can be easily removed from SWCNTs by acid solution. Characteristics of as-grown SWCNTs were presented using Raman spectroscopic and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), revealing that the SWCNTs produced by this method possess the significant quality of being free from amorphous carbons and having uniform diameter.