Effect of Vaporization Temperature on the Diameter and Chiral Angle Distributions of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Pulsed laser vaporization synthesis of single-wall carbon nanotubes on Co/Ni and Rh/Pd catalysts was explored with respect to variations in the production temperature. The nanotube type populations were determined via photoluminescence, UV-Vis-NIR absorption and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that lowered production temperature leads to smaller nanotube diameters and exceptionally narrow (n, m) type distributions, with marked preference towards large chiral angles for both catalysts. Interestingly, larger nanotube diameters tend to be associated with larger chiral angles. These results demonstrate that PLV production technique can provide at least partial control over the nanotube (n, m) populations. In addition, these results have implications for the understanding the nanotube nucleation mechanism in the laser oven. SWCNT synthesized at lower temperatures appear quite attractive as a starting material for nanotube type separation experiments.