Incremental growth of short SWNT arrays by pulsed chemical vapor deposition

Growth and Mechanics of Heterogeneous, 3D Carbon Nanotube Forest Microstructures Formed by Sequential Selective-Area Synthesis

Three-dimensional carbon nanotube (CNT) forest microstructures are synthesized using sequenced, site-specific synthesis techniques. Thin-film layers of Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃/Fe are patterned to support film-catalyst and floating-catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in specific areas. Al₂O₃ regions support only floating-catalyst CVD, whereas regions of layered Al₂O₃/Fe support both film- and floating-catalyst CNT growth. Sequenced application of the two CVD methods produced heterogeneous 3D CNT forest microstructures, including regions of only film-catalyst CNTs, only floating-catalyst CNTs, and vertically stacked layers of each. The compressive mechanical behavior of the heterogeneous CNT forests was evaluated, with the stacked layers exhibiting two distinct buckling plateaus. Finite element simulation of the stacked layers demonstrated that the relatively soft film-catalyst CNT forests were nearly fully buckled prior to large-scale deformation of the bottom floating-catalyst CNT forests.

Enveloping self-assembly of carbon nanotubes at copolymer micelle cores

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their polymer nanocomposites are interesting materials for future applications, for example in optics or electronics. Research faces two major challenges with these outstanding nanofillers: control over dispersion and spatial arrangement within the nanocomposite, both required to achieve optimal structure and properties of CNT-based nanocomposites. We report on novel self-assembled multiwall CNT (MWCNT)/block copolymer (BCP) nanostructures realized by patterning MWCNTs with amphilphilic diblock copolymer micelles. A high molecular weight poly(styrene)-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) BCP which forms large micelles (250 nm) was chosen to facilitate the templating by reducing the bending energy induced in the MWCNTs. We tested the hypothesis that it is possible to use an amphiphilic BCP as a dispersing agent and its spherical micelles as a template at the same time without modification of the CNTs. In thin films of the MWCNT/BCP micelles, highly separated MWCNTs were repeatedly observed which enveloped the core of the BCP micelles, i.e., the unfunctionalized MWCNTs segregated to the interface between the two BCP phases. Depending on the size of the MWCNTs, ring-like (split-ring) or network forming structures were obtained. The MWCNT templating mechanism, i.e., the segregation to the interface, is explained by the interfacial tension within the BCP interface and the chain entropy. The reported new complex nanocomposite has potential to be applied for example as cost-effective split-ring resonators for metamaterials or for conductive polymer films with an extremely low percolation threshold.

Real-time optical diagnostics of graphene growth induced by pulsed chemical vapor deposition

The kinetics and mechanisms of graphene growth on Ni films at 720-880 °C have been measured using fast pulses of acetylene and real-time optical diagnostics. In situ UV-Raman spectroscopy was used to unambiguously detect isothermal graphene growth at high temperatures, measure the growth kinetics with ∼1 s temporal resolution, and estimate the fractional precipitation upon cooldown. Optical reflectivity and videography provided much faster temporal resolution. Both the growth kinetics and the fractional isothermal precipitation were found to be governed by the C2H2 partial pressure in the CVD pulse for a given film thickness and temperature, with up to ∼94% of graphene growth occurring isothermally within 1 second at 800 °C at high partial pressures. At lower partial pressures, isothermal graphene growth is shown to continue 10 seconds after the gas pulse. These flux-dependent growth kinetics are described in the context of a dissolution/precipitation model, where carbon rapidly dissolves into the Ni film and later precipitates driven by gradients in the chemical potential. The combination of pulsed-CVD and real-time optical diagnostics opens new opportunities to understand and control the fast, sub-second growth of graphene on various substrates at high temperatures.

Reversible diameter modulation of single-walled carbon nanotubes by acetonitrile-containing feedstock

Changing the carbon feedstock from pure ethanol to a 5 vol % mixture of acetonitrile in ethanol during the growth of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) reduces the mean diameter of the emerging SWNTs from approximately 2 to 1 nm. We show this feedstock-dependent change is reversible and repeatable, as demonstrated by multilayered vertically aligned SWNT structures. The reversibility of this process and lack of necessity for catalyst modification provides insight into the role of nitrogen in reducing the SWNT diameter.