Development of Facile Synthetic Methods of Carbon Nanotubes Using a Domestic Microwave Oven

We succeeded in the development of two facile synthetic methods of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by using a domestic microwave oven and a commercially available small microwave furnace from Art Box(TM). Our handmade apparatus was cheap and the synthesis of the CNTs took only 5 min. Interestingly, we could selectively synthesize the magnetic nickel-containing CNTs and non-magnetic nickel-free CNTs by our two developed methods.