Production of carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanostructures such as single-walled and multi-walled nanotubes (SWNTs and MWNTs) or graphitic polyhedral nanoparticles can be produced using various methods. Most of them are based on the sublimation of carbon under an inert atmosphere, such as the electric are discharge process, the laser ablation method, or the solar technique. But chemical methods can also be used to synthesize these kinds of carbon materials: the catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbons, the production by electrolysis, the heat treatment of a polymer, the low temperature solid pyrolysis, or the in situ catalysis.