Organometallic precursor route to carbon nanotubes*
A. Govindaraj and C. N. R. Rao**
Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit and CSIR Center
of Excellence in Chemistry, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific
Research, Jakkur P.O., Bangalore 560 064, India
Abstract: Multi-walled as well as single-walled carbon nanotubes
are conveniently prepared by the pyrolysis of organometallic precursors,
such as metallocenes and phthalocyanines, in a reducing atmosphere.
Pyrolysis of organometallics alone or in mixture with hydrocarbons also
yields aligned nanotube bundles with useful field emission properties.
By pyrolyzing organometallics in the presence of thiophene, Y-junction
nanotubes are obtained in large quantities. The junction nanotubes have
a good potential in nanoelectronics. Carbon nano-tubes prepared from
organometallics are useful for preparing nanowires and nanotubes of
materials such as BN, GaN, SiC, and Si3N4.
* Special Topic Issue on the Theme
of Nanostructured Advanced Materials
**Corresponding author
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