The Korean Society of Surface Science and Engineering

As a preliminary study to produce functional nanocomposites in a heat dissipation device, we performed the direct synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of alumina (Al₂O₃) powders. A thermal chemical vapor deposition (TCVD) system was used to grow CNTs directly on the Al₂O₃ surface. In order to investigate the growth behavior of CNTs, we varied both furnace temperature of the TCVD ranging from 700 to 850 °C and concentration of the ferritin-dissolved DI solution from 0.1 to 2.0 mg/mL. From the previous results, the gas composition and duration time for CNT growth were fixed as C₂H₄ : H₂ = 30 : 500 (vol. %) and 10 min, respectively. Based on the analysis results, the optimized growth temperature and ferritin concentration were found to be 825 °C and 0.5 mg/mL, respectively. The obtained results could be adopted to achieve mass production of nanocomposites with heat dissipation functionality.

Keywords Direct growth; Carbon nanotubes; Alumina powder; Heat dissipation; Thermal chemical vapor deposition.