US Patent 7981396 - SWCNT synthesis

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7981396.html

This patent from Honda Motor describes a modified CVD method of single walled carbon nanotube growth which may provide a route to industrial scale synthesis. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for synthesizing carbon nanostructures, the method comprising:

providing a catalyst of metal nanoparticles, wherein the catalyst is supported on a powdered oxide substrate having a particle size of 0.5 μm to 5 μm;

entraining the catalyst in an inert gas; and

exposing the entrained catalyst to a carbon precursor gas at a temperature sufficient to form carbon nanostructures, wherein the carbon nanostructure is single-walled carbon nanotubes.