Growth of carbon nanostructures upon stainless steel and brass by thermal chemical vapor deposition method

Abstract

The lack of complete understanding of the substrate effects on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) growth poses a lot of<br />technical challenges. Here, we report the direct growth of nanostructures such as the CNTs on stainless steel 304<br />and brass substrates using thermal chemical vapor deposition (TCVD) process with C2H2 gas as carbon source<br />and hydrogen as supporting gas mixed in Ar gas flow. We used an especial etching of substrates. The catalysts<br />consist of a thin layer of Cu deposited on substrates. Morphology and structural information about prepared<br />CNTs were provided by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results showed that some nanostructures such as<br />single and multi walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and MWCNTs), bundle (70-80 nm), nano wire (80-100<br />nm) and amorphous carbon were formed on stainless steel 304 as substrate. Moreover, different kind of carbon<br />nanotubes such as MWCNTs (30-50 tun), nano crystalline diamond (10-30 nm), amorphous carbon, roped (70-<br />80 nm) structures with different sizes grew on the brass substrate as well. In conclusion, we suggest that<br />stainless steel 304 and brass can be replaced with Si/Si02 as substrate in practical applications.