Water-Assisted Highly Efficient Synthesis of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Forests from Colloidal Nanoparticle Catalysts

Highly efficient single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) growth from Fe−Mo nanoparticle catalysts made by colloidal synthesis is demonstrated by water-assisted chemical vapor deposition. In a 10 min growth time, SWNT forests with heights up to 1.5 mm were synthesized possessing a 2.8 nm average diameter, carbon purity above 99.99%, and Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) surface area of 1200 m2/g, which rivals SWNTs grown from sputtered Fe thin films. Realization of high efficiency SWNT growth using catalysts prepared by economical and scalable wet processes opens up a cost-effective route toward the mass production of SWNT forests.