Simulation analysis of influence factors for preparation of dispersed cap-open carbon nanotubes using CCVD

Abstract

In order to investigate the reaction mechanism and production rate for the growth of dispersed cap-open carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in catalyst chemical vapor deposition, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model with multi-step reaction was developed in this study. The CFD calculations coupled with temperature field and concentration field demonstrated that laminar flow conditions were presented and steep thermal gradient and concentration gradient existed in the axis of the reactor. Applying the CFD calculation, total deposition rate of CNTs in the reactor were predicted with the variation of the processing parameters. The results show that the maximum deposition rate can be obtained with the temperature from 1050 to 1200 K and the flow rate of the ethanol should be controlled over 300 sccm.