Growth of carbon nanotubes film on Pd film by chemical vapor deposition

The effect of different palladium ( Pd) films on the growth behavior of carbon nanotubes ( CNTs) film has been investigated. The CNTs film was deposited by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with C₂H₂ and H₂ as precursor. Various Pd films prepared on glass substrates by magnetron sputtering in vacuum or O₂ ambience were used as catalysts. Characterization of the Pd and CNTs films was made using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Results show that it is difficult to grow CNTs on 10 nm to 40 nm thick Pd films deposited by magnetron sputtering in vacuum. However, on the as-prepared 10 nm thick Pd film after annealing treatment at 760 °C in atmosphere for 5 min, the randomly oriented CNTs and carbon nanofibres (CNFs) were grown, which were aligned in low density and gathered together into some particles. Also, the high purity CNTs were found to distribute evenly in high density on 10 nm thick Pd film deposited by magnetron sputtering in O₂ ambience. The present work shows the importance of the preparation condition of the Pd film catalyst for the growth behavior of CNTs film.