Growth of carbon nanotubes on metal containing amorphous carbon (A-C:M) films

In this study, carbon nanotubes were grown from metal containing amorphous carbon (a-C:M). a-C:M were deposited by two different techniques: RF magnetron sputtering and filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were deployed to analyze the chemical structure and morphology of the catalyst layers, respectively. The morphology of the carbon nanotubes growth was studied under Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that carbon nanotubes growth from sputtered a-C:Fe film are random orientated, while the nanotubes from FCVA a-C:M are well-aligned. SEM and AFM studies also show mat the diameter of the nanotubes grown on sputtered a-C:Fe film is proportional to that of the annealed catalyst particles grain size. However, the diameter of the nanotubes from FCVA a-C:Fe film was found to be much smaller than the grain size of the catalyst particles.