Advanced Fabrication of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes by Laser Ablation with Reduced Number of Parameters

Single wall carbon nanotubes are fabricated by a long pulse and high power Nd:YAG laser ablation from a solid composite target consisting of graphite and bimetallic catalyst at room temperature without any carrying gas flow. The results demonstrated that the technique could eliminate several processing parameters currently used for SWNT fabrication via laser ablation process. Most importantly, the new process can produce well-dispersed, straight, and clean SWNTs, rather than bundled and deformed SWNTs coated with bimetals and amorphous carbon nanoparticles. A mechanism is suggested for such an improved SWNT growth