Effects of localized electric field on the growth of carbon nanowalls

Recently we have found that carbons can be grown into well-aligned two-dimensional sheets (dubbed carbon nanowalls) on a substrate through manipulating the electrical conduction from the catalyst to the bias electrode in a microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. The existence of a strong lateral electric field between the catalyst islands was thought to be the key factor that promotes the growth of nanowalls instead of nanotubes. In this work, we provide more relevant evidence to show how a localized electric field can affect the growth of carbon nanowalls. The localized field, which was induced by gold particles via excitation of surface plasmons, altered significantly the growth of carbon nanowalls in terms of both surface morphology and density. If the surface plasmon can be excited in a well-controlled fashion, it may become a viable tool to grow very dense carbon nanowalls for potential industrial applications.