A mini-microplasma-based synthesis reactor for growing highly crystalline carbon nanotubes

In this work, we report a novel, mini microplasma-assisted gas-phase synthesis reactor which enables the localized deposition of high quality carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Analogous to conventional gas-phase growth, which utilizes the furnace heating to induce dissociation of the reactant species, formation of the catalyst nanoparticles, and nucleation of the CNTs, our process replaces the furnace with the microplasma as the sole reaction source. In doing so, this reactor takes full advantage of the merits of the microplasma apparatus, specifically atmospheric pressure operation, efficient dissociation of molecular species, and small size to synthesize highly crystalline small diameter single and double-walled CNTs at an estimated growth rate of 1000–6400 μm/s. In addition, being in gas phase and channeled through a 0.8 mm inner diameter ceramic reactor, the grown CNTs could be localized onto a substrate located downstream in the reactor.