Iron-cobalt catalysts synthesized by a reverse micelle impregnation method for controlled growth of carbon nanotubes

摘要

Fe-Co bimetallic metals supported on CaCO_3 support have been prepared using three different methods for the preparation of the catalysts; wet impregnation (IMP), deposition-precipitation (DP) and reverse micelle impregnation (RM). By careful choice and optimization of CVD reaction conditions and catalyst preparation procedures, we have tailored the nanofabrication of CNTs using 5 wt percent Fe-Co/CaCO_3. High yields of 'clean' MWNTs with near 100 percent selectivity and excellent reproducibility were obtained (1215 percent and 835 percent yields for the IMP and DP methods respectively). The RM technique enabled more precise control over the size of the CNTs and a narrower diameter distribution (3-5 nm i.d. and 10-15 nm o.d.) was obtained.