Atomic-scale analysis on the role of molybdenum in iron-catalyzed carbon nanotube growth

Hideto Yoshida; Takuma Shimizu; Tetsuya Uchiyama; Hideo Kohno; Yoshikazu Homma; Seiji Takeda

doi:10.1021/nl9019903

Atomic-scale analysis on the role of molybdenum in iron-catalyzed carbon nanotube growth

Nano Lett. 2009 Nov;9(11):3810-5. doi: 10.1021/nl9019903.

Authors

Hideto Yoshida¹, Takuma Shimizu, Tetsuya Uchiyama, Hideo Kohno, Yoshikazu Homma, Seiji Takeda

Affiliation

¹ Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikane-yama, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-0043, Japan.

PMID: 19731921
DOI: 10.1021/nl9019903

Abstract

We have elucidated the synergetic role played by molybdenum in iron-catalyzed chemical vapor deposition growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by in situ environmental transmission electron microscopy. Molybdenum can be well accommodated by Fe-based carbide nanoparticle catalysts of M(23)C(6)-type structure (M = Fe and Mo). We have also shown that molybdenum suppresses the nucleation of iron compounds that are known to exhibit no catalytic activity for the growth of CNTs.