The sol-gel technique has been studied to fabricate a homogeneous Fe-Mo/MgO catalyst. Ambient effects (air, Ar, and H2) on thermal decomposition of the citrate precursor have been systematically investigated to fabricate an Fe-Mo/MgO catalyst. Severe agglomeration of metal catalyst was observed under thermal decomposition of citrate precursor in air atmosphere. Ar/H2 atmosphere effectively restricted agglomeration of bimetallic catalyst and formation of highly-dispersed Fe-Mo/MgO catalyst with high specific surface-area due to the formation of Fe-Mo nanoclusters within MgO support. High-quality thin-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (t-MWCNTs) with uniform diameters were achieved on a large scale by catalytic decomposition of methane over Fe-Mo/MgO catalyst prepared under Ar-atmosphere. The produced t-MWCNTs had outer diameters in the range of 4-8 nm (average diameter ~6.6 nm) and wall numbers in the range of 4-7 graphenes. The as-synthesized t-MWCNTs showed product yields over 450% relative to the utilized Fe-Mo/MgO catalyst, and indicated a purity of about 85%.

Well-aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were successfully synthesized by catalytic chemical vapor deposition using a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) additive onto Al/Fe thin film deposited on Si wafers. Transmission electron microscopy images indicated that the as-grown carbon products were thin MWCNTs with small outer diameters of less than 10 nm. H2S plays a key role in synthesizing thin MWCNTs with a large inside hollow core. The well-aligned thin MWCNTs showed a low turn-on voltage of about 1.1 V/μm at a current density of 0.1 μA/cm2 and a high emission current of about 1.0 mA/cm2 at a bias field of 2.3 V/μm. We suggest a possible growth mechanism for the well-aligned thin MWCNTs with a large inside hollow core.