AMT Institute employees presented a new approach for the controlled growth of carbon nanotubes

Nowadays carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one of the most popular materials for building structures, as they have unique physical and chemical properties. CNTs and composites based on them are widely used in the field of energy storage, development of molecular electronic devices, displays and various sensors. They are used as the basis for supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells, where the high specific surface area of CNTs provides higher capacity and improved device efficiency.

Employees of the Institute of Advanced Materials and Technologies have presented a new method for obtaining structures based on carbon nanotubes with high specific area. The essence of the developed approach is to use a certain amorphous alloy based on Co-Zr-N-O as a catalyst for the growth of the CNT array. Depending on the concentration of cobalt content in a given film and its thickness, the density and direction of CNT growth will be controlled: up, down, or in both directions.

“This method of formation is competitive because we can obtain multi-level CNT arrays using this approach, which makes it possible to increase the specific surface area by at least 2 times relative to the “single-level” arrays used in modern practice,” explained Sergey Dubkov, senior lecturer at the AMT Institute.

The research was carried out by a group of scientists (candidate of Science Engineering Sergey Dubkov, candidate of Science Engineering Andrey Savitsky, graduate student Georgy Yeritsyan) under the guidance of Professor Dmitry Gromov. The article "Unidirectional and bi-directional growth of carbon nanotubes on the catalytic Co-Zr-N-(O) material" was published in the highly rated Journal of Materials Research and Technology.