Composite catalyst and method for manufacturing carbon nanostructured materials

摘要

A method of forming a carbon nanotube array on a substrate is disclosed. One embodiment of the method comprises depositing a composite catalyst layer on the substrate, oxidizing the composite catalyst layer, reducing the oxidized composite catalyst layer, and growing the array on the composite catalyst layer. The composite catalyst layer may comprise a group VIII element and a non-catalytic element deposited onto the substrate from an alloy. In another embodiment, the composite catalyst layer comprises alternating layers of iron and a lanthanide, preferably gadolinium or lanthanum. The composite catalyst layer may be reused to grow multiple carbon nanotube arrays without additional processing of the substrate. The method may comprise bulk synthesis by forming carbon nanotubes on a plurality of particulate substrates having a composite catalyst layer comprising the group VIII element and the non-catalytic element. In another embodiment, the composite catalyst layer is deposited on both sides of the substrate.

主权项

1. A method of forming an array of aligned carbon nanotubes, the carbon nanotubes having a length greater than 1 millimeter and including multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), on a substrate, comprising the steps of:
depositing a composite catalyst layer on a substrate, wherein said composite catalyst layer comprises an Fe element and a lanthanide element; oxidizing said composite catalyst layer to form an oxidized composite catalyst layer; reducing said oxidized composite catalyst layer to form a reduced composite catalyst layer; and growing an array of aligned carbon nanotubes, including multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), to a length greater than 1 millimeter on said reduced composite catalyst layer.