CONTROLLED GROWTH OF CARBON NANOTUBES ON CONDUCTIVE METAL SUBSTRATES FOR ENERGY STORAGE APPLICATIONS
The impressive mechanical and electronic properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) make them ideally suited for use in a variety of nanostructured devices, especially in the realm of energy production and storage. In particular, vertically-aligned CNT “forests” have been the focus of increasing investigation for use in supercapacitor electrodes and as hydrogen adsorption substrates. Vertically-aligned CNT growth was attempted on metal substrates by waterassisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD). CNT growth was catalyzed by iron-molybdenum (FeMo) nanoparticle catalysts synthesized by a colloidal method, which were then spin-coated onto Inconel® foils. The substrates were loaded into a custom-built CVD apparatus, where CNT growth was initiated by heating the substrates to 750 °C under the fl ow of He, H2, C2H4 and a controlled amount of water vapor. The resultant CNTs were characterized by a variety of methods including Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the growth parameters were varied in an attempt to optimize the purity and growth yield of the CNTs. The surface area and hydrogen adsorption characteristics of the CNTs were quantifi ed by the Brunauer- Emmett-Teller (BET) and Sieverts methods, and their capacitance was measured via cyclic voltammetry. While vertically-aligned CNT growth could not be verifi ed, TEM and SEM analysis indicated that CNT growth was still obtained, resulting in multiwalled CNTs of a wide range in diameter along with some amorphous carbon impurities. These microscopy fi ndings were reinforced by Raman spectroscopy, which resulted in a G/D ratio ranging from 1.5 to 3 across different samples, suggestive of multiwalled CNTs. Changes in gas fl ow rates and water concentration during CNT growth were not found to have a discernable effect on the purity of the CNTs. The specifi c capacitance of a CNT/FeMo/Inconel® electrode was found to be 3.2 F/g, and the BET surface area of a characteristic CNT sample was measured to be 232 m2/g with a cryogenic (77K) hydrogen storage of 0.85 wt%. This level of hydrogen adsorption is slightly higher than that predicted by the Chahine rule, indicating that these CNTs may bind hydrogen more strongly than other carbonaceous materials. More work is needed to confi rm and determine the reason for increased hydrogen adsorption in these CNTs, and to test them for use as catalyst support networks. This study demonstrates the feasibility of producing CNTs for energy storage applications using water-assisted CVD.
- Research Organization:
- DOESC (USDOE Office of Science (SC) (United States))
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI ID:
- 1052112
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Undergraduate Research, Vol. 9
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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