Millimeter-Thick Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Forests: Hidden Role of
  Catalyst Support
Microsoft Word - manuscript_supergrowth070322.doc
Millimeter-Thick Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Forests: 
Hidden Role of Catalyst Support 
Suguru Noda1*, Kei Hasegawa1, Hisashi Sugime1, Kazunori Kakehi1,
Zhengyi Zhang2, Shigeo Maruyama2 and Yukio Yamaguchi1
1 Department of Chemical System Engineering, School of Engineering, The University 
of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan 
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of 
Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan 
A parametric study of so-called "super growth" of single-walled carbon nanotubes 
(SWNTs) was done by using combinatorial libraries of iron/aluminum oxide catalysts. 
Millimeter-thick forests of nanotubes grew within 10 min, and those grown by using 
catalysts with a thin Fe layer (about 0.5 nm) were SWNTs. Although nanotube forests 
grew under a wide range of reaction conditions such as gas composition and 
temperature, the window for SWNT was narrow. Fe catalysts rapidly grew nanotubes 
only when supported on aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide, which is a well-known 
catalyst in hydrocarbon reforming, plays an essential role in enhancing the nanotube 
growth rates.  
KEYWORDS: single-walled carbon nanotubes, vertically aligned nanotubes, 
combinatorial method, growth mechanism 
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: noda@chemsys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
 Soon after the realizations of the vertically-aligned single-walled carbon 
nanotube (VA-SWNT) forests1) by alcohol chemical vapor deposition (ACCVD),2)
many groups achieved this morphology of nanotubes by several tricks in CVD 
conditions.3-6) Among these methods, the water-assisted method, the so-called "super 
growth" method,3) realized an outstanding growth rate of a few micrometers per second, 
thus yielding millimeter-thick VA-SWNT forests. Despite its significant impact on the 
nanotube community, no other research groups have been successful in reproducing 
"super growth". Later, the control of the nominal thickness of Fe in the Fe/ Al2O3
catalyst was shown crucial for controlling the number of walls and diameters of the 
nanotubes.7) In this work, we carried out a parametric study of this growth method by 
using a combinatorial method that we previously developed for catalyst optimization.8,9)
 Si wafers that had a 50-nm-thick thermal oxide layer and quartz glass 
substrates were used as substrates, and Fe/ SiO2, Fe/Al2Ox, and Fe/Al2O3 catalysts were 
prepared by sputter deposition on them. An Al2Ox layer was formed by depositing 
15-nm-thick Al on the substrates, and then exposing the layer to air. A 20-nm-thick 
Al2O3 layer was formed by sputtering an Al2O3 target. Then, Fe was deposited on SiO2,
on Al2Ox, and on Al2O3. In some experiments, gradient-thickness profiles were formed 
for Fe by using the combinatorial method previously described.9) The catalysts were set 
in a tubular, hot-wall CVD reactor (22-mm inner diameter and 300-mm length), heated 
to a target temperature (typically 1093 K), and kept at that temperature for 10 min while 
being exposed to 27 kPa H2/ 75 kPa Ar at a flow rate of 500 sccm, to which H2O vapor 
was added at the same partial pressure as for the CVD condition (i.e., 0 to 0.03 kPa). 
During this heat treatment, Fe formed into a nanoparticle structure with a diameter and 
areal density that depended on the initial Fe thickness.8) After the heat treatment, CVD 
was carried out by switching the H2/ H2O /Ar gas to C2H4/ H2/ H2O/ Ar. The standard 
condition was 8.0 kPa C2H4/ 27 kPa H2/ 0.010 kPa H2O/ 67 kPa Ar and 1093 K. The 
samples were analyzed by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (JEOL 
JEM-2000EX) and micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy (Seki Technotron, STR-250) 
with an excitation wavelength at 488 nm.  
 Figure 1a shows a photograph of the nanotubes grown for 30 min under the 
standard condition. Nanotubes formed forests that were about 2.5 mm thick. The taller 
nanotubes at the edge compared with those at the center of the substrates indicate that 
the nanotube growth rate was limited by the diffusion of the growth species through the 
millimeter-thick forests of nanotubes. Figure 1b shows a TEM image of the as-grown 
sample shown in the center of Fig. 1a. The nanotubes were mostly SWNTs. These 
figures show that "super growth" was achieved. Although catalysts with thicker Fe layer 
(≥ 1 nm) yielded rapid growth for a wide range of CVD conditions, mainly multi-walled 
nanotubes (MWNTs) formed instead of SWNTs. Rapid growth of SWNTs requires 
complicated optimization of the CVD conditions, i.e., C2H4/ H2/ H2O pressures and the 
growth temperature, because the thinner layer of Fe catalysts (around 0.5 nm) yielded 
rapid SWNT growth under a narrow window near the standard condition.  
 The effect of the catalyst supports on the nanotube growth was also studied 
here. Figure 2a shows normal photographs of nanotubes grown by using three types of 
combinatorial catalyst libraries; i.e., Fe/ SiO2, Fe/ Al2Ox, and Fe/ Al2O3. For the Fe/ 
SiO2 catalyst, the surface was slightly darker at regions with 0.4- to 0.5-nm-thick Fe. 
For the Fe/ Al2Ox, and Fe/ Al2O3 catalyst, the result was completely different; nanotube 
forests even thicker than the substrates were formed within 10 min. Differences also 
were evident between the catalysts with Al2Ox and Al2O3 supports. When Fe was 
relatively thick (> 0.6 nm), nanotube forests grew thick by using either of these two 
catalysts. When Fe was thinner (≤ 0.6 nm), however, nanotube forests grew thick only 
by using the Fe/ Al2Ox catalyst (Fig. 2b). Figure 2c shows Raman spectra taken at 
several locations for each catalyst library. For Fe/ SiO2, a Raman signal of nanotubes 
was obtained only when the Fe layer was thin (i.e. ≤ 0.8 nm). The sharp and branched 
G-band with small D-band and the peaks of radial breathing mode (RBM) indicate the 
existence of SWNTs. The G/D peak area ratios exceeding 10 indicate that the SWNTs 
were of relatively good quality. For Fe/ Al2Ox, the Raman signal of nanotubes was 
observed also for a thick Fe region (i.e. ≥ 1.0 nm) with G/D ratios somewhat smaller 
than the G/D ratios for Fe/ SiO2. The G/D ratio of 10 for the nanotubes by 0.5 nm Fe/ 
Al2Ox shows that the SWNTs still were of relatively good quality compared with the 
original "super growth".3) As the Fe thickness was increased, G/D ratios became smaller 
because MWNTs became the main product at the thicker Fe regions. For Fe/ Al2O3, the 
results were similar to those for Fe/ Al2Ox except when the Fe layer was thin (around 0.5 
nm) where nanotube forests did not grow. Similar phenomenon was observed also for 
Co and Ni catalysts; they yielded nanotube forests when supported on an aluminum 
oxide layer. These results show that an aluminum oxide layer is essential for "super 
growth", that the growth rate enhancement by Al2Oxmight accompany some decrease in 
the G/D ratio, and that the catalyst Fe layer needs to be thin (< 1 nm for the CVD 
condition studied here) to grow SWNTs. An Al2Ox catalyst support was more suitable 
than Al2O3 to grow SWNTs, and the underlying growth mechanism is now under 
investigation.
 The effect of the H2O vapor on the nanotube growth was studied next. Figure 
3a shows the thickness profiles of nanotube forests grown on the Fe/ Al2Ox catalyst 
library. In the absence of H2O vapor, nanotubes grew at the thin Fe region (0.3- to 1-nm 
thick). Addition of 0.010 kPa H2O, which corresponds to 100 ppmv in the reactant gases, 
enhanced the nanotube growth, especially at the thicker Fe region (> 0.7 nm). Further 
addition of H2O (0.030 kPa), however, inhibited the nanotube growth at the thinner Fe 
region (0.3- 0.6 nm) where SWNTs grew at lower H2O partial pressures. Figure 3b 
shows Raman spectra of these samples. Slight addition of H2O (0.01 kPa) did not affect 
the G/D ratio at the thin Fe region (0.5 nm) but decreased the G/D ratio at the thicker 
region (0.8 and 1.0 nm). Further addition of H2O (0.03 kPa) significantly decreased the 
G/D ratio at the whole region of Fe thickness. These results show that the H2O addition 
up to a certain level can enhance the nanotube growth rate, but too much addition 
degrades the nanotube quality.  
 Considering that alumina and its related materials catalyze hydrocarbon 
reforming,10) a possible mechanism for "super growth" is proposed as follows: C2H4 or 
its derivatives adsorb onto aluminum oxide surfaces, diffuse on the surface to be 
incorporated into Fe nanoparticles, and segregate as nanotubes from Fe nanoparticles. 
H2O vapor keeps aluminum oxide surface reactive by removing the carbon byproducts, 
while simultaneously, H2O reacts with the nanotubes and degrades the quality of the 
nanotubes. The C2H4/H2O pressure ratio needs to be kept large (790 for the standard 
condition in this work) as previously reported in ref. 11. The complicated optimization 
among C2H4, H2, and H2O to achieve "super growth" of SWNTs indicates that balancing 
the carbon fluxes of adsorption onto aluminum oxides, the surface diffusion from 
aluminum oxides to Fe nanoparticles, and the segregation as nanotubes from Fe 
nanoparticles is essential to sustain the rapid nanotube growth at a few micrometers per 
second. During nanotube growth, because the surface of catalyst nanoparticles is mostly 
covered by nanotubes, nanotube growth can be enhanced by introducing a carbon 
source not only through the limited open sites on catalyst nanoparticles but also through 
the catalyst supports whose surface remains uncovered with growing nanotubes. This 
concept might provide a new route for further development of supported catalysts for 
nanotube growth. 
Acknowledgements:  
This work is financially supported in part by the Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A), 
18686062, 2006, from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and 
Technology (MEXT), Japan.  
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Figure Captions: 
Fig. 1. Typical nanotubes grown in this work. (a) Normal photographs of nanotube 
forests grown on Fe/ Al2Ox for 30 min under the standard condition (8.0 kPa C2H4/ 27 
kPa H2/ 0.010 kPa H2O/ 67 kPa Ar and 1093 K). Fe catalyst thickness was uniform at 
0.45 nm (left sample), 0.50 nm (middle), and 0.55 nm (right). (b) TEM image of 
nanotubes in Fig. 1a grown using 0.50-nm-thick Fe catalysts. Insets show the enlarged 
images (2.5x) of nanotubes.  
Fig. 2. Effect of support materials for Fe catalyst on nanotube growth. Nanotubes were 
grown for 10 min under the standard condition. (a) Photographs of nanotubes grown by 
using combinatorial catalyst libraries, which had a nominal Fe thickness profile ranging 
from 0.2 nm (at left on each sample) to 3 nm (right) formed on either SiO2, Al2Ox, or 
Al2O3. (b) Relationship between the thickness of nanotube forest (shown in Fig. 2a) and 
the nominal Fe thickness of the catalyst. (c) Raman spectra of the same samples. 
Intensity at the low wavenumber region (< 300 cm-1) is shown magnified by a factor of 
5x in this figure. Declined background signals in some of the RBM spectra (e.g., 0.5, 
0.8-nm-Fe/ SiO2 and 0.5-nm-Fe/ Al2O3) were due to the signal from SiO2 substrates 
passing through the thin nanotube layer.  
Fig. 3. Effect of H2O vapor on the nanotube growth. Nanotubes were grown using Fe/ 
Al2Ox combinatorial catalyst libraries for 10 min under the standard condition except for 
H2O partial pressures. (a) Relationship between the thickness of nanotube forest and the 
nominal Fe thickness of the catalyst at different H2O partial pressures. (b) Raman 
spectra of the same samples. Intensity at the low wavenumber region (< 300 cm-1) is 
shown magnified by a factor of 5x in this figure.  
Fig. 1 S. Noda, et al., submitted to Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 
Fig. 2 S. Noda, et al., submitted to Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 
Nominal Fe thickness [nm]
Al2Ox
0.3 0.5 1 3
Al2O3
1300 1400 1500 1600
Raman shift [cm-1]
  5.6
  5.2
  4.1
  6.8
  5.0
100 200 300
0.5 nm
0.8 nm
Fe thickness
0.5 nm
0.8 nm
1.0 nm
0.5 nm
0.8 nm
1.0 nm
on Al2Ox
on Al2O3
on SiO2
Fig. 3 S. Noda, et al., submitted to Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 
Nominal Fe thickness [nm]
 0 kPa
 0.010 kPa
 0.030 kPa
0.3 0.5 1 3
1300 1400 1500 1600
Raman shift [cm-1]
  5.6
  5.2
  3.1
  2.4
  2.5
100 200 300
0.5 nm
0.8 nm
1.0 nm
Fe thickness
0.5 nm
0.8 nm
1.0 nm
0.5 nm
0.8 nm
1.0 nm
0.010 kPa
0.030 kPa
0 kPa   9.7
  7.6
  7.9
