Growth of carbon nanotubes on nanoporous titania templates.

This work reports the synthesis of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on nanoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2) templates. TiO2 nanotubular templates for MWCNTs are produced by anodization of titanium followed by pulsed electrodeposition (PED) of cobalt inside the TiO2 nanotubes. Cobalt acts as a catalyst for the growth of MWCNTs using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. The cobalt catalyst initiates the growth of well graphitized MWCNTs inside the titania pores as well as beyond the titania pores. These materials have been characterized by SEM, EDS, GXRD, XPS, TEM, and ED techniques. The MWCNTs were about 10 mu in length and 80-120 nm in diameter.