In situ synthesis of Fe-filled carbon nanotubes by a floating CVD method with FeCl3 as catalyst precursor

Large-scale in-situ synthesis of Fe-filled carbon nanotubes was achieved by chemical vapor deposition(CVD) with anhydrous FeCl3 as floating catalyst precursor and ethylene as carbon source.The effects of catalyst and carrier gas were studied.The as-grown products were characterized using SEM,TEM,XRD,Raman,and vibrating sample magnetometer techniques.It has been found that for the floating CVD technique,anhydrous FeCl3 is a good yet cheap catalyst precursor that is better than the traditional ferrocene catalyst in terms of the purity and filling ratio of the Fe-filled carbon nanotubes produced.The superparamagnetic property of the carbon nanotubes was also demonstrated by vibrating sample magnetometry.