Gadolinium and europium catalyzed growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes

The inner transition metals, gadolinium (Gd) and europium (Eu) have been shown to catalyze the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) using chemical vapor deposition. The Gd and Eu nanocatalysts, prepared using a diblock copolymer templating method and characterized by atomic force microscopy, were uniformly spaced over a large deposition area with an average diameter of 1.9 nm and narrow size distribution. Characterization by transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy confirms the presence of SWCNTs catalyzed by Gd and Eu with an average diameter of 2.05 nm.