Abstract: Carbon nanostructures like fullerenes, graphene and nanotubes are of great interest for the current research as well as for future industrial applications. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been under scientific investigation for more than fifteen years because of their unique properties that predestine them for many potential applications. The field of nanotechnology and nanoscience push their investigation forward to produce CNTs with suitable parameters for future applications. It is evident that new approaches of their synthesis need to be developed and optimized. The challenge on carbon nanotubes is still the subject of many research groups. While in the first years the focus was on the new synthesis methods, new carbon sources and support materials, recently, the application possibilities are the principal arguments of the studies. Moreover, the carbon nanotubes market is steadily growing and thus effective and cheap solutions for the production of high quality carbon nanotubes are needed. To the best of my knowledge, the main focus in the current research lays on exploring the effective production methods for singlewalled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) because of their unique physical and chemical properties and hence their potential electronic application. In this paper we review history, types, structure and especially the different synthesis methods for CNTs preparation including arc discharge, laser ablation and chemical vapour deposition. Moreover, we mention some rarely used ways of arc discharge deposition which involves arc discharge in liquid solutions in contrary to standard used deposition in a gas atmosphere. This paper presents different synthesis methods like arc discharge (AD), laser ablation, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) as well as some of the more recent methods working with high pressure of the carbon monoxide of some unique catalytic mixture. The production methods are explained and their advantages and disadvantages examined. Although this paper concentrates on the synthesis, the other factors should not be completely neglected as they contribute significantly to the production costs.
Keywords: Carbon nanotube , laser ablation, chemical vapour deposition (CVD), arc discharge (AD).
Title: Mini review: Synthesis of carbon nanotube
Author: A.M.EL- Shafey
International Journal of Mathematics and Physical Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-5736 (Online)
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