CVD synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes from gold nanoparticle catalysts

We present the first demonstration of the synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes using gold nanoparticle catalysts with thermal chemical vapor deposition. Nanotubes were successfully grown using monodispersed gold nanoparticles prepared through a block copolymer templating technique. The nanotubes are characterized by atomic force microscopy and resonant Raman spectroscopy and are found to have a diameter range between 1.0 and 2.0 nm.