Publications

A thermodynamic model for growth mechanisms of multiwall carbon nanotubes

Siegal, Michael P.; Overmyer, Donald L.

Multiwall carbon nanotubes are grown via thermal chemical vapor deposition between temperatures of 630 and 830 C using acetylene in nitrogen as the carbon source. This process is modeled using classical thermodynamics to explain the total carbon deposition as a function of time and temperature. An activation energy of 1.60 eV is inferred for nanotube growth after considering the carbon solubility term. Scanning electron microscopy shows growth with diameters increasing linearly with time. Transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy show multiwall nanotubes surrounded by a glassy-carbon sheath, which grows with increasing wall thickness as growth temperatures and times rise.