Oxide catalysts for carbon nanotube and few layer graphene formation

Oxides are rapidly emerging as an exciting alternative to metal catalysts for carbon nanotubes (CNT) formation because they are more easily integrated in Si technology, are usually easily removed in purification steps and are cheap. In this contribution we highlight the potential of oxides to synthesise single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) (via laser evaporation), multi-walled carbon nanotubes and few layer graphene (via thermal CVD). Schematic illustration of graphitic carbon grown from oxide step site to form a CNT (left image) or graphene layer (right image).