Active Cobalt Catalyst for Carbon Powder Growth: Sol-gel Process and Alcohol Catalytic CVD Technique

Introduction: The unique properties of carbon nanotubes trigger a lot of ideas to study the ability of the material in many fields. Experimental: The research started with the preparation of cobalt catalyst by using the sol-gel method, which used cobalt acetate tetrahydrate and 2-amino ethanol solvent, followed by the actual growth of carbon nanotube by using the prepared catalyst in alcohol catalytic CVD. Results: The crystal structure, microstructure, and size of particles of the resulting cobalt-based powders were characterized by using X-ray Diffraction, Optical Microscopy, and Particle Size Analyzer, followed by, carbon nanotube growth at 700, 750, 800, and 850°C, where other parameters were fixed in order to determine the effect of CVD processing and temperature on the quality of resulting carbonbased materials. The graphitic structure of the carbon-based materials was analyzed by using Raman Spectroscopy. Conclusion: It was found that the optimum CVD processing temperature was 850°C with IG/ID ratio of 1.052.