Selective growth of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes solely from carbon monoxide

The selective growth of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) is of great importance in many high-end applications represented by nanoelectronics. Here, we developed a general approach to grow horizontally aligned s-SWCNT arrays on stable temperature (ST)-cut quartz with bimetallic catalysts using carbon monoxide (CO) as both catalyst reductant and single component carbon feedstock under atmospheric pressure. The disproportionation of CO produces not only carbon species for SWCNT growth but also CO₂, which could act as an in-situ etchant to remove both amorphous carbon and metallic tubes. The employment of bimetallic catalyst and quartz substrate facilitates the selective etching by narrowing the diameter distribution of as-grown SWCNT arrays. At the optimized conditions, we realized the selective growth of horizontally aligned s-SWCNT arrays with the content above 97% using CoCu catalysts, confirmed by Raman characterization and electrical measurements of the fabricated field effect transistor devices. This CO-based process in selective growth of s-SWCNTs has demonstrated its feasibility and universality by the broad growth window and applicability for other bimetallic catalysts, such as FeCu and CoMn. It possesses a practical potential in obtaining semiconducting channel materials for the scalable fabrication of CNT-based devices.