Oxygen as the growth enhancer of carbon nanotubes in solid-state pyrolysis of organometallic precursors

The preparation of carbon nanotubes and the mechanism of its formation have always been the main obstacles for the scientific research and industrial applications. Considerable efforts have been spent to solve these problems. Through elaborate molecular design, six organometallic precursors, which contained cobalt moieties and different contents of oxygen, were synthesized successfully, and underwent the followed solid-state pyrolysis (SSP). Excitedly, for the first time, the results demonstrated that oxygen can act as the growth enhancer of carbon nanotubes in the SSP process of organometallic precursors, benefiting the formation of nanotubes.