Novel template preparation of carbon nanotubes with natural HNTs employing selective PVA modification

•One-dimensional carbon nanotubes by using halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as the template was developed.•Selective polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) modification as the carbon source on inner surface of HNTs was adopted.•The template-obtained products remained the similar distribution of the pore diameter with HNTs.

A novel approach to prepare one-dimensional carbon nanotubes by using halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as the template while employing selective polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) modification as the carbon source was developed. A series of characterizations (thereof including XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, BET, Raman, XPS and SAED) was used to study the formation process of carbon nanotubes. The characterizations could distinctly demonstrate the surface of HNTs modified by PVA molecular. The XRD, Raman, SEM, TEM, SEAD and XPS characterizations indicated that the template-obtained products were of CNTs structure and a high specific surface area of 381.5 m2/g.