2006/04/05 by Zhi-An Ren, Z. F. Ren, Ren, Zhi-An +2
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #FOS: Physical sciences #Fullerene Chemistry and Applications #Graphene research and applications #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0604138
openalex publication_date 2006/04/05 · arxiv created 2006/09/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Large-scale fully interconnected ring carbon nanotube (CNT) networks were first prepared using thermo chemical vapor deposition in nano-channel network templates of porous anodic alumina. This conductive CNT network film consists of billions of nanotube segments with a single layer, and could be made as large as the centimeter size of the template, with a uniform two-dimensional ring topological structure. These CNT networks could be grown from tiny Fe/Co catalyst particles which were electro-deposited into the templates, or totally without additional metallic catalysts. The common interconnected ring topology suggests a both-tip growth mechanism in which the growth of every CNT should occurs at both ends by the incorporation of carbon clusters until they connect into other CNTs. Comparing the different morphology of CNT networks grown with and without catalyst particles, we found that the local concentration of carbon clusters should play the key role for the continued growth of CNTs.