US Patent 7625545 - Manufacture of CNT tape by arc discharge

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7625545.html

This patent is from JPE Engineering Corp. and teaches a method of creating a high purity carbon nanotube tape using the motion of a cylindrical electrode in an arc discharge process. Claim 1 reads:

1. A process for producing carbon nanotubes by arc discharge, wherein a path of the arc discharge is formed along the stream of an inert gas or inert gas-containing mixed gas supplied from an anode to a cathode comprising a carbon material, and simultaneously, the anode and the cathode are relatively moved so as to move a cathode spot of an arc on the cathode.