Towards the production of large-scale aligned carbon nanotubes

A novel method is presented to produce high purity, aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube films grown on thin quartz flakes by injecting a solution of ferrocene in toluene. After reaction, these quartz flakes support arrays of nanotubes arranged perpendicular to the surfaces of the substrate. This method is seen to increase the yield of nanotubes dramatically compared to the conventional injection CVD method. Such a method may offer the possibility of producing aligned nanotubes at large scales. In addition, the analysis established the presence of bands of varying iron concentration within this type of material. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.