The world of carbon nanotubes : an overview of CVD growth methodologies

Carbon nanotubes are a new form of completely artificial crystalline carbon, which have never been found as a natural form. These fascinating hollow cylinders can be considered as prototypes of one-dimensional quantum wires, exhibit peculiar chemical- physical properties very different from those of other C-based nanostructures, and are envisaged to have potential in a wide range of applications. This review examines some of the most interesting CVD methodologies employed for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes. The results obtained from different methodologies demonstrate that carbon nanotubes can be grown by CVD under a wide range of experimental conditions, permitting flexible, tunable synthesis. Overall, in the last few years, CVD approaches have emerged as the most promising among those proposed for synthesizing carbon nanotubes.