
M. M. A. RAFIQUE ET AL.33
ga
. Comparison
elow a comparison of three most widely used meth-
. Conclusions
ollowing conclusion can be drawn from above discus-
arc-discharge and laser ablation methods suf-
able 1 Comparison of Carbon Nanotube Production
operty Arc-
die Laser
A Chemical Vapor
in the right temperature of ~800˚C and the carbon at-
oms for SWNT production. On the small metal particles
the SWNT are than formed. As optimization parameters
the fuel gas composition, catalyst, catalyst carrier surface
and temperature can be controlled [22]. In the literature
found, the yield, typical length and diameters are not
stated.
3
B
ods is given (Table 1) with respect to their poten tial to
be scaled up as large scale methods for production of
carbon nanotubes.
4
F
sion about different methods of carbon nanotubes pro-
duction.
Both
fer from disadvantages of being expensive and un-
economical methods of production of carbon nano-
tubes on large scale, despite they yield high quality
carbon nanotubes with reasonable high yield.
Chemical Vapor Deposition is best-suited,eco-
nomic method of production of high purity Single
Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNT) on large scale.
Variants of Chemical Vapor Deposition process
such as CoMoCAT® & HiPco® can be scaled up to
large scale processes with continuous process &
high yield.
T
Methods.
Process / Prscharg blation Deposition
Raw materials
availab ili ty Difficult Difficult Easy, abundantly
available
Ennt
D D Easy, ated
Production rate Low Low (CoMo iPco)
MHi High 99%)
No exte
Batch type Batch type Continuous
High High Low
eergy requiremHigh High Moderate
Process control ifficultifficultcan be autom
Reactor design Difficult Difficult Easy and can be
des igned as l arg e s cal e
process
High
CAT, H
Purity of product High High High
Yield of process oderate
(70%) gh (80%
- 85%)
Require
(95% -
Post treatments
requirements
(refining etc.)
Require
refining refining nsive refining
required
Process nature
(continuous
or batch type)
Per unit cost
Chemical Vapor Deposition process can also be
used for economic production of Double Walled
Carbon Nanotubes.
Miscellaneous processes such as NASA’s process
still require qualification to be adop ted as high scale
mass production processes.
5. References
[1] P. J. Harris, “Carbon Nanotubes and Related Structures,”
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999.
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“Science of Fullerenes and Carbon Nanotubes,” Associ-
ated Press, New York, 1996.
[3] A. Oberlin, M. Endo and T. Koyama, “Filamentous
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335-349. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(76)90115-9
[4] http://carbon.phys.msu.ru/publications/1952-radushkevic
h-lukyanovich.pdf radushkevich-lukyanovich, 1952.
(original article in russian)
[5] millie-science-spec-endo99.tex
[6] S. Iijima, “Helical Microtubules of Graphitic Carbon,”
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doi:10.1038/363603a0
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R. Savoy, J. Vazquez and R. Beyers, “Cobalt-Catalysed
Growth of Carbon Nanotubes with Single-Atomic-Layer
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[9] T. Guo, P. Nikolaev, A. Thess, D. T. Colbert and R. E.
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[11] W. S. Mcbride, “Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube by
Chemical Vapor Deposition,” Undergraduate Degree
Thesis, College of William and Marry in Virginia, Wil-
liamsburg, 2001.
[12] C. Journet, W. K. Maser, P. Bernier, A. Loiseau, M.
Lamy De La Chapelle, S. Lefrant, P. Deniard, R. Lee and
J.E. Fischer, “Large Scale Production of Single Walled
Carbon Nanotubes by the Electric Arc Technique,” Na-
ture, Vol. 388, 1997, pp. 756-758. doi:10.1038/41972
[13] T. W. Ebbesen, P. M. Ajayan, “Large Scale Synthesis of
Carbon Nanotubes,” Nature, Vol. 358, 1992, pp. 220-222.
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