Synthesis of Nanostructure Carbonaceous Materials on Tip Using Plasma-Chemical-Vapor-Deposition Method

Abstract

Phase transformation of carbonaceous species under the action of high intensity plasma was studied by using a specially designed setup in which a Fe-needle was used as an antenna to absorb microwave and to induce local plasma in the vicinity of needle-tip. Using such a setup, carbon nanotubes have been successfully synthesized on the needle using diamond powder as carbon source and organic iron as catalyst. Variety of nano-structure carbonaceous materials were observed besides carbon nanotubes, e.g., diamond recrystallized as starfruit shaped geometry. Moreover, there exist other kinds of unknown nanostructures on the needle substrate. Some are long, thin, smooth, and some are planar. The characteristics of these unique nanostructured materials will be systematically investigated and the possible growth mechanism will be discussed.