Analytic studies of high quality singlewall carbon nanotubes synthesized on a novel Fe:Mo:MgO catalyst

High quality singlewall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with a diameter variation ranging between 0.8 and 1.4 nm were synthesized over a novel catalytic system Fe:Mo:MgO obtained by co-precipitation by Radio-Frequency-Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition. It was found that during the first three minutes of reaction time, the catalyst presented a high yield towards the synthesis of SWCNTs without the generation of other types of carbonaceous species. The corresponding nanotubes were analyzed structurally by electron microscopy, Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy and were found to have high purity and crystalline properties. Very little impurities were present in the samples after the purification process indicating the possibility of obtaining single walled carbon nanotubes with extremely high purity.