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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 May 5.
Published in final edited form as: Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2009 Sep;1(5):511–529. doi: 10.1002/wnan.41

TABLE 2.

Common Methods for Carbon Nanomaterial Synthesis

Synthesis method Carbon precursor Catalyst Energy source CNFs Symmetry CNTs
CVD/PECVD HipCO Gas-phase precursors (methane, carbon monoxide, synthesis gas (H2/CO), ethyne, and ethane) Fe, Co, Ni Cr, V, and Mo (alone or in combination, as powder or supported) Heat/radio frequency, direct current glow discharge, inductively coupled plasma or microwave (500 to 1000 °C) Platelet (iron powder) Tubular (iron supported on silica) Stacked-cup Single wall/Multiwall
Nanochannel templating Gas-phase CCVD precursors (as above; discotic liquid crystals CVD catalysts as above, or non-catalytic Heat (from 300 to 1000 °C) Platelet Carbon/carbon composite Nanoribbons Multiwall
Electric arc discharge Graphite rod electrodes in inert gas (Ar or He) Ni, Y Electric discharge (2000 to 3000 °C) Single wall (metal-doped electrodes)/Multi wall (pure graphite electrodes)
Laser ablation (vaporization) Graphite in Ar flow Co, Ni High intensity laser (Nd:YAG) pulses in a high temperature atmosphere (1200 °C) Single wall (metal-doped electrodes)/Multi wall (pure graphite electrodes

PECVD, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition; CCVD, catalytic chemical vapor deposition; Nd:YAG, neodumium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet