Design of Silica Nanoparticles-Supported Metal Catalyst by Wet Impregnation with Catalytic Performance for Tuning Carbon Nanotubes Growth

Abstract

The catalytic activity of cobalt and iron nanoparticles for the growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was studied by a specific reproducible and up-scalable fabrication method. Co and Fe catalysts were deposited over SiO2 nanoparticles by a wet-impregnation method and two different annealing steps were applied for the catalyst formation/activation. The samples were calcined at an optimal temperature of 450 °C resulting in the formation of metal oxide nano-islands without the detection of silicates. Further reduction treatment (700 °C) under H2 successfully converted oxide nanoparticles to Co and Fe metallic species. Furthermore, the catalytic efficiency of both supported-metal nanoparticles at 2 and 5% in weight of silica was evaluated through the growth of CNTs. The CNT structure, morphology and size dispersion were tailored according to the metal catalyst concentration.