Abstract
Hot-filament chemical vapour deposition (HF-CVD) was used to grow aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) directly on Cu foils. Fast wet-chemical etching procedures based on hydrogen peroxide (H sub(2O) sub(2)) were found to have a key role on the formation of selective active substrates for the growth process. Here, a comprehensive mechanism is presented. Additionally, it is shown that nano-sized protrusions [inline image]8 nm with round shape and high density [inline image]1.7 x 10[super]3 [micro]m[super]-2 were decisive for the growth of aligned hollow-herringbone CNFs following the base-growth model. CNFs with heights of [inline image]1 [micro]m and diameters around [inline image]8 nm show narrow diameter size distribution with remarkable correlation to the protrusion size distribution. The fibers were organised in cone-shape configurations with a cone density of [inline image]22 [micro]m[super]-2 and a cone angle of 90[deg]. An activation energy for the CNF growth of E sub(act [inline image] 0.90 +/- 0.16 eV was extracted from the Arrhenius plot showing that the process kinetics is governed by C diffusion in bulk Cu.)