Comparative study on diameter distribution of single-walled carbon nanotubes using growth templates with different pore sizes: Zeolite-L, ZSM-5, and MCM-41

• Diameter distribution of SWNTs using various porous templates are investigated.
• SWNT mean diameter and its distribution decrease with decreasing pore sizes.
• Nanoporous templates give narrower tube diameter distribution than plane substrate.
• Template growth has potential for SWNT growth with narrow diameter distribution.

We report a comparative study on diameter distribution of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) grown using nanoporous templates having different pore sizes, namely, zeolite-L, ZSM-5, and MCM-41. The change in the tube diameter based on catalytic film thickness and growth temperature was systematically investigated. We prepared very thin Fe catalyst films with nominal thicknesses of 0.5, 0.7, 1, and 2 Å, and the growth temperature was varied from 850 to 925 °C. We found that the SWNT mean diameter and size distribution width decreased with decreasing catalyst film thickness, growth temperature, and pore sizes of the templates. In addition, all SWNTs grown from the nanoporous templates have narrower diameter distribution compared to the SWNTs grown from SiO2 planar surface. The obtained results are straightforward and suggest that the template growth has potential for SWNT growth with very narrow diameter distribution.

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