Dysprosium-catalyzed growth of single-walled carbon nanotube arrays on substrates

In this letter, we report that dysprosium is an effective catalyst for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) growth via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process for the first time. Horizontally superlong well-oriented SWNT arrays on SiO2/Si wafer can be fabricated by EtOH-CVD under suitable conditions. The structure and properties are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transition electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The results show that the SWNTs from dysprosium have better structural uniformity and better conductivity with fewer defects. This rare earth metal provides not only an alternative catalyst for SWNTs growth, but also a possible method to generate high percentage of superlong semiconducting SWNT arrays for various applications of nanoelectronic device.