For the scalable production of commercial products based on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs), referred to as CNT forests, key manufacturing challenges must be overcome. In this work, we describe some of the main challenges currently facing CNT forest manufacturing, along with how we address these challenges with our custom-built rapid thermal processing chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. First, the complexity of the multistep processes and reaction pathways involved in CNT growth by CVD limits the control on CNT population growth dynamics. Importantly, gas-phase decomposition of hydrocarbons, formation of catalyst nanoparticles, and catalytic growth of CNTs are typically coupled. Here, we demonstrated a decoupled recipe with independent control of each step. Second, significant run-to-run variations plague CNT growth by CVD. To improve growth consistency, we designed various measures to remove oxygen-containing molecules from the reactor, including air baking between runs, dynamic pumping down cycles, and low-pressure baking before growth. Third, real-time measurements during growth are needed for process monitoring. We implement in situ height kinetics via videography. The combination of approaches presented here has the potential to transform lab-scale CNT synthesis to robust manufacturing processes.
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September 2019
Research-Article
Multizone Rapid Thermal Processing to Overcome Challenges in Carbon Nanotube Manufacturing by Chemical Vapor Deposition
Jaegeun Lee,
Jaegeun Lee
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: JAL292@pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh
,Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: JAL292@pitt.edu
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Moataz Abdulhafez,
Moataz Abdulhafez
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: MMA89@pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh
,Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: MMA89@pitt.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Mostafa Bedewy
Mostafa Bedewy
1
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: mbedewy@pitt.edu
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,
University of Pittsburgh
,Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: mbedewy@pitt.edu
1Corresponding author.
Search for other works by this author on:
Jaegeun Lee
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: JAL292@pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh
,Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: JAL292@pitt.edu
Moataz Abdulhafez
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: MMA89@pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh
,Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: MMA89@pitt.edu
Mostafa Bedewy
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: mbedewy@pitt.edu
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,
University of Pittsburgh
,Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: mbedewy@pitt.edu
1Corresponding author.
Manuscript received May 7, 2019; final manuscript received May 13, 2019; published online July 22, 2019. Assoc. Editor: Y. Lawrence Yao.
J. Manuf. Sci. Eng. Sep 2019, 141(9): 091006 (8 pages)
Published Online: July 22, 2019
Article history
Received:
May 7, 2019
Revision Received:
May 13, 2019
Accepted:
May 14, 2019
Citation
Lee, J., Abdulhafez, M., and Bedewy, M. (July 22, 2019). "Multizone Rapid Thermal Processing to Overcome Challenges in Carbon Nanotube Manufacturing by Chemical Vapor Deposition." ASME. J. Manuf. Sci. Eng. September 2019; 141(9): 091006. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4044104
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