Synthesis of carbon nano-tubes by pulsed laser ablation at normal pressure in metal nano-sol

A novel method has been developed for large-scale synthesis of carbon nano-tubes (CNTs) under normal temperature and pressure, using pulsed laser ablation of a graphite target in metal nano-sol. The metal nano-sol was prepared by laser ablation of metal target in ethanol and used as catalyst. The synthesized CNTs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy and Fourier-transformed infrared (FT-IR) absorption spectroscopy. The nanotube surface was revealed to be modified by the -C=O, -CH2, -CH3 and -OH functional groups.