Synthesis of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers using inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

This journal paper reports a highly reliable and efficient method for the growth of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers. The inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method utilizes a low substrate temperature (approx. 650 ∘\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${^{\circ }}$$\end{document}C) for the growth purpose using toluene as carbon source. Carbon nanofibers are characterized using SEM (scanning electron microscopy), EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray) and Raman spectroscopy. Uniform carbon nanofibers are grown on different substrates. The results further show that the use of catalyst is not mandatory to grow the carbon nanofibers.