Preparation of long aligned carbon nanotubes and study its physical properties

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of about 6 µm long have been successfully prepared by a simple pyrolysis technique. The precursors used for the synthesis of nanotubes through pyrolysis technique are pyridine (carbon source material) and ferrocene (catalyst). The synthesized CNTs have been characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Raman Spectroscopy. The aligned carbon nanotubes were dissolved in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer in a solution and silver contacts were made to study the effect of CNTs on electrical properties of PMMA. The I-V characterization of the PMMA-CNTs was performed to study its electrical properties. A linear current-voltage characteristic was obtained. The change in resistance with and without diffusion of polymer in carbon nanotubes were calculated from the I-V curve.