Oriented long single walled carbon nanotubes on substrates from floating catalysts

A new and feasible method to prepare long and well-oriented SWNTs on substrates in large scale is developed by applying a floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The catalysts for SWNT growth come from the decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)₅) formed in situ from the reaction of iron powder and carbon monoxide gas. The growth of SWNTs is found to happen both on the substrate and in the gas flow. Both long and short nanotubes are formed on the substrates but only the long SWNTs are aligned by gas flow. The growth direction and the density of the long SWNTs can be easily controlled. In addition, long SWNTs can be cut and patterned using photolithography and water plasma etching techniques, offering a way to prepare patterned SWNTs with controllable orientation, density and lengths for various applications.