Carbon nanowalls deposited by inductively coupled plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using aluminum acetylacetonate as precursor

Well aligned carbon nanowalls, a few nanometers thick, were fabricated by continuous flow of aluminum acetylacetonate (Al(acac)3) without a catalyst, and independent of substrate material. The nanowalls were grown on Si, and steel substrates using inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Deposition parameters like flow of argon gas and substrate temperature were correlated with the growth of carbon nanowalls. For a high flow of argon carrier gas, an increased amount of aluminum in the film and a reduced lateral size of the carbon walls were found. The aluminum is present inside the carbon nanowall matrix in the form of well crystallized nanosized Al4C3 precipitates.