A template method for carbon nanotube production from sugar water

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel method for synthesizing carbon nanotubes using sugar water pyrolysis within nanoporous templates, offering controlled geometrical properties and promising electrical characteristics.

Contribution

It introduces a new template-based chemical process for CNT production from sugar water, demonstrating improved control over nanotube dimensions and quality.

Findings

CNTs with controlled diameter and alignment were successfully synthesized.

The produced CNTs exhibited good crystalline quality and length (~10 μm).

Quasi-metallic transport properties were observed after annealing.

Abstract

The methods of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) growth inside nanoporous materials are among the best candidates to fabricate CNTs with controlled geometrical parameters. We report obtaining CNTs by pyrolysis of sugar water and show that this chemical reaction is better suited for various applications than other known template methods. The diameter of the obtained CNTs, their alignment, and the distance between them can be controlled by choosing the bendable nanoporous template (chrysotile). Electron microscopy shows good crystalline quality of the obtained approximately 10 {\mu}m long CNTs after the template etching. Quasi-metallic transport is observed in this material after annealing CNTs under inert atmosphere.