Development of Pulsed Laser Deposition System for the Formation of Web-liked Carbon Nanotubes

This work reports on our earnest effort to develop a pulsed laser ablation deposition system for the production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The correct condition such as the pressure, ablation time, power of laser will result in different structures and morphology of the tubes. A T-shaped stainless steel chamber was designed. Nd:YAG laser with 532 nm wavelength, 10.54W output power and pulsed width of 5-7 ns was used to ablate a pellet form graphite for 30 minutes. The morphology and the structural properties of the tubes were studied. The results were compared with graphite pellet filled with 10 weight % of Nickel as catalyst. It was found that an Argon environment with the Ni catalyst result in the formation of a web-like carbon nanotubes. XRD profile and TEM image confirmed the formation of CNTs.