Oriented carbon nanostructures grown by hot-filament plasma-enhanced CVD from self-assembled Co-based catalyst on Si substrates

We report the synthesis of coral- and caterpillar-like carbon nanostructures assemblies starting from cobalt nitrate ethanol solutions deposited by drop-casting onto blank or carbon nanoparticles film covered Si(1 0 0) substrates. The seeded films were pre-treated with glow discharge hydrogen plasma aided by hot-filaments at 550 °C followed by introduction of acetylene at 700 °C. The resultant carbon nanostructure assemblies contain a high density of aligned carbon nanotubes/nanofibers (CNTs/CNFs). The influence of the forces that act during liquid-mediated self-assembly of Co catalyst precursor is discussed.