Low-temperature, nonlinear rapid growth of aligned carbon nanotubes

This Letter reports the growth of well-aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) having increased growth rate at reduced growth temperature as a result of using Fe–Si as the catalyst. Fe–Si catalyst leads to not only a low growth temperature of 370 °C but also an unprecedented, rapid growth kinetics. The lengthening of CNTs was found to be proportional to t15 where t is the growth time. The use of Fe–Si as the catalyst enhances the carbon diffusivity in the catalyst. Due to the enhanced carbon diffusivity and the nonlinear growth kinetics, a reaction-controlled growth model is suggested.