The synthesis of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes on an aluminum foil laminated on stainless steel

Abstract

Aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown on an aluminum foil laminated on a flexible stainless steel (SS) substrate. Lamination was carried out under a pressure of 10 MPa with simultaneously heating at 400 °C. The laminated Al foil was spray-coated with an iron chloride catalyst precursor solution and the CNTs were grown using water-assisted chemical vapor deposition at 810 °C. The CNTs grew as vertically aligned forests, approximately 600 μm in height, within 600 s without crumpling of the Al foil. The Al foil acts as a sacrificial barrier layer to grow the CNTs. The CNTs had 2-30 walls with an inner diameter of 3-8 nm. Thermogravimetric and field emission analysis of the CNTs revealed a degradation temperature and turn-on field of 643.5 °C and 0.46 V/μm, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to analyze the Al-SS interface and chemical states. After removing the CNTs, the flexible SS substrate could be cleaned, recoated with Al and reused for CNT growth. Overall, this process is a repeatable and continuous roll-to-roll processable method that can be scaled up for industrial production. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.