Abstract: The application of carbon nanotube has attracted a lot of attention with the development of the research on the carbon nanotube. By analyzing its unique physical properties, its future application is discussed in detail. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is an economic way to grow carbon nanotubes and is frequently employed to fabricate nanotubes on planar substrates. We focus on the discussion of the self-organization of CNTs at the early growth stages. On the basis, we investigate the growth mechanism of the nanotubes and the self-selective growth method. From this analysis, it can be understood that the 2D-3D structures of CNTs can be fabricated by this self-selective growth technique, which is very useful in a wide range.

引  言

自从1991年碳纳米管被发现以来，科研人员就对它投入了极大的关注。在充分认识碳纳米管各种特性的基础上，人们也在不断地探索碳纳米管在实际中的应用^[1-4]。研究表明，碳纳米管在电学、磁学、力学、热学以及物理化学方面具有独特的性能，因而在纳米电子学、纳米机械系统、电子场致发射、电磁吸收、传感器、STM探针、催化、探测生物细胞用电极及其他领域具有广泛的应用前景^[5-10]。这些应用的必要前提条件在于对碳纳米管生长的大面积可控生长，近年来许多研究集中于这一方面^[6,11]。

目前，可以通过化学气相沉积(CVD)方法碳纳米管在平面基底上生长碳纳米管。在反应中，过渡金属元素颗粒作为催化剂，碳氢化合物作为碳源。通过这种方法，可以生长出大面积、排列整齐、分不均匀的碳纳米管阵列。这种碳纳米管阵列在储氢、场致发射、探针等方面有重要用途。CVD方法中的重要一种是利用二甲苯(C₈H₁₀)和二茂铁(Fe(C₅H₅)₂)制备碳纳米管，通过控制二者的比例可以实现对其生长模式的控制；通过对反应机理的研究，进而可以对碳纳米管的生长位置进行控制，打到选择性生长和多维生长的目的。