Patent ID: 7074379

Claim:
A method for producing single wall carbon nanotube products comprising the steps of: providing a CO gas stream; providing a gaseous catalyst precursor stream comprising a gaseous catalyst precursor that is capable of supplying atoms of a transition metal selected from the group consisting of Fe, Co, Mn, Ni, and Mo, said gaseous catalyst precursor stream being provided at a temperature below the decomposition temperature of said catalyst precursor; heating said CO gas stream to a temperature that is (i) above the decomposition temperature of said catalyst precursor and (ii) above the CO decomposition initiation temperature, to form a heated CO gas stream; and mixing said heated CO gas stream with said gaseous catalyst precursor stream to rapidly heat said catalyst precursor to a temperature that is (i) above the decomposition temperature of said catalyst precursor, (ii) sufficient to promote the rapid formation of catalyst metal atom clusters and (iii) sufficient to promote the initiation and growth of single wall nanotube by the CO decomposition reaction, to form a suspension of single wall carbon nanotube products in the resulting gaseous stream.