Study of Mg Powder as Catalyst Carrier for the Carbon Nanotube Growth by CVD

The possibility of using magnesium powder as catalyst carrier for carbon nanotube growth by chemical vapor deposition, which may pave a new way to in situ fabricate CNT/Mg composites with high CNT dispersion, was investigated for the first time. The fabrication process of the catalyst supported on Mg powder involves the preparation of colloid by a deposition-precipitation method, followed by calcination and reduction. The results show that the interaction between catalyst and support plays an important role for the catalytic property of the catalyst. Ni alloyed with Mg shows no activity for the decomposition of methane. The introduction of Y in Ni/Mg catalyst can promote the reaction temperature between Ni and Mg and thus enhance the activity of the catalyst. A large amount of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with an average diameter of 20 nm was obtained using Ni/Y/Mg catalyst at 450 degrees C, while only a few short CNTs were obtained using Ni/Mg catalyst due to the low activity of the catalyst at lower temperature.