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Continuous fibers produced from carbon nanotube (CNT) rugs through direct spinning find wide applications owing to their excellent mechanical and physical characteristics. However, the practical application of such fibers is difficult since spinnable CNTs synthesized at atmospheric pressure are of low quality. This paper aims to determine the critical conditions for successful CNT rug growth through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at low pressures such that the resulting CNTs exhibit improved spinnability and uniformity. The parameters examined for this purpose are the heat treatment of the catalyst, growth time, growth pressure, and cooling environment. Such a study has not been reported in literature. Low-pressure (LP) CVD (LP-CVD), which facilitates the control of amorphous carbon to achieve high spinnability, produced directly spinnable CNT rugs up to 600 mm or more. The synthetic method presented in this paper yielded CNTs with spinnability higher than that reported in literature. Thus, the systematic study of the critical conditions required for successful CNT growth through LP-CVD can help obtain CNTs with high spinnability and reproducibility and can improve the commerciality of CNT rugs.

Photo decomposition of gas phase benzene by $TiO_2$ thin films chemically deposited on alumina balls were investigated under UV irradiation. Photo decomposition rates were measured in real time during the reaction using a photo ionization detector, which ionizes C-H bonding of benzene molecules an...