Large scale intercalated growth of short aligned carbon nanotubes among vermiculite layers in a fluidized bed reactor

Short aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were intercalated grown among vermiculite layers from ethylene using a simple fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The length of CNTs ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 mu m after a synthesizing duration of 1-5 min at 650 degrees C. The as-grown CNTs vertically aligned to the vermiculite layers were with the mean outer and inner diameter of 6.7 and 3.7 nm, respectively. A CNT yield of 0.22 g/g(cat) was obtained for a 5-min growth. Those indicated that the fluidized bed CVD was an effective way for mass production of short CNTs. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.