2008/11/26 by Rong Xiang, R. Xiang, Xiang, R. +12
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #FOS: Physical sciences #Graphene research and applications #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0811.4229
16 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2008/11/26 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/26 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Addition of only 1% of acetylene into ethanol was found to enhance the growth rate of singlewalled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by up to ten times. Since acetylene is a byproduct of the thermal decomposition of ethanol, this suggests an alternative fast reaction pathway to the formation of SWNTs from ethanol via byproducts of decomposition. This accelerated growth, however, only occurred in the presence of ethanol, whereas pure acetylene at the same partial pressure resulted in negligible growth and quickly deactivated the catalyst. The dormant catalyst could be revived by reintroduction of ethanol, indicating that catalyst deactivation is divided into reversible and irreversible stages.