Patent ID: 7794797

Claim:
A method for synthesizing carbon nanotubes on a substrate comprising the steps of: a) providing a substrate, said substrate comprising nanoparticles distributed on the surface of said substrate, b) placing the substrate in a chemical vapor deposition chamber, c) simultaneously delivering gaseous hydrocarbon and oxygen to the nanoparticles using a catalytic chemical vapor deposition process, and d) selectively heating the nanoparticles to a higher temperature than the substrate by causing an exothermic oxidation reaction to occur on the surface of the nanoparticles such that the temperature on the surface of the nanoparticles is at least 500° C. to thereby synthesize carbon nanotubes or carbon nanofilaments wherein: the nanoparticles distributed on said substrate consist of a material selected from the group consisting of Ni, Fe, Co, Cu, Al, V, Y, Mo, Pt, Pd and combinations thereof and the temperature of the substrate does not exceed 220° C.