Growth of single walled carbon nanotubes over Co-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves

Highly ordered cobalt substituted MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves was synthesized by direct incorporation of cobalt into the MCM-41 framework through hydrothermal method. The calcined Co-MCM-41 was characterised by physico-chemical technique. The above-characterised material was tested for the application as catalytic template synthesizing single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) using acetylene as a carbon precursor by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method in the temperature range 700-900 degrees C. The well graphitised CNTs in the pores of Co-MCM-41 was observed and confirmed by SEM and TEM. The good thermal stability and high productivity observed in this study suggest that the mesoporous molecular sieves could be a promising catalytic template for synthesizing carbon nanotubes.