Synthesis of Patterned Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes by PECVD Using Different Growth Techniques: A Review

Abstract

Immense development has been taken place not only to increase the bulk production, repeatability and yield of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in last 25 years but preference is also given to acknowledge the basic concepts of nucleation and growth methods. Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VAC-NTs) are forest of CNTs accommodated perpendicular on a substrate. Their exceptional chemical and physical properties along with sequential arrangement and dense structure make them suitable in various fields. The effect of different type of selected substrate, carbon precursor, catalyst and their physical and chemical status, reaction conditions and many other key parameters have been thoroughly studied and analysed. The aim of this paper is to specify the trend and summarize the effect of key parameters instead of only presenting all the experiments reported till date. The identified trends will be compared with the recent observations on the growth of different types of patterned VACNTs. In this review article, we have presented a comprehensive analysis of different techniques to precisely determine the role of different parameters responsible for the growth of patterned vertical aligned carbon nanotubes. We have covered various techniques proposed in the span of more than two decades to fabricate the different structures and configurations of carbon nanotubes on different types of substrates. Apart from a detailed discussion of each technique along with their specific process and implementation, we have also provided a critical analysis of the associated constraints, benefits and shortcomings. To sum it all for easy reference for researchers, we have tabulated all the techniques based on certain main key factors. This review article comprises of an exhaustive discussion and a handy reference for researchers who are new in the field of synthesis of CNTs or who wants to get abreast with the techniques of determining the growth of VACNTs arrays.

Engineering of oriented carbon nanotubes in composite materials

“…In the second category, the arrangement occurs after growth. There have been several review articles written about the alignment methods of CNTs [ 6 , 31 – 35 ]. However, most of these focus on the synthesis of aligned CNTs, and the number of methods reporting the arrangement of CNTs after their production is limited.…”

Development of a fully automated desktop chemical vapor deposition system for programmable and controlled carbon nanotube growth

“…Controlled growth of CNTs having specific density along with various alignment degree can also be readily conducted by modulation of recipe parameters. The density control can be induced by many means such as feed gas regulation [10,11] and catalyst patterning [12][13][14], but here we demonstrate one strategy for density control Fig. 3 Completed CVD system in comparison to a commercially-available one and the developed standard recipe: a our developed desktop CVD, b commercial CVD, and c standard recipe for CNT growth in the completed CVD system based on the modulation of annealing time (i.e., time of Ar/H 2 flowing at the peak temperature, as marked in Fig.…”

Synthesis of MWCNT Forests with Alumina-Supported Fe2O3 Catalyst by Using a Floating Catalyst Chemical Vapor Deposition Technique

“…In the past years, CNTs have been produced through arc discharge, laser ablation, fluidized bed CVD, fixed-bed CVD, plasma enhanced CVD, etc. [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Each one has its own merits and drawbacks.…”

“…CVD is the most widely used method for the production of a high-carbon yield with selective growth. It is a relatively low-cost approach among the reported methods of synthesis of CNTs [5,6]. During CVD synthesis of CNTs, a carbon precursor decomposes over a pure or mixed metal catalyst in a high-temperature environment.…”