We developed a magnetism-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to synthesize branched or iron-encapsulated carbon nanotubes. In the process, the external magnetic field can promote the coalescence or division of the catalyst particles, causing the formation of branched or encapsulated nanostructures. This finding will extend the understanding of the CVD method in a magnetic field and promote the applications of branched or encapsulated nanostructures.

We have developed a new technique to produce branched or encapsulating nanostructures in a VLS process. CNTs with iron particles encapsulated in a controlled position were synthesized for the first time. We proposed a catalyst coalescence or division mechanism, which can be induced by flow fluctuations and influenced by the substrate. The flow fluctuations can provide a controllable force to control the architecture, implying a potential application in the bottom-up approach.

We develop a simple, efficient, and low-temperature supercritical-solution route to coat multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) discontinuously with a alumina gate‐dielectric shell and applied MWCNTs as p-type field-effect transistors. With a coating thickness of 8 nm, the drain current exceeds the gate current by a factor of 104-105, confirming the excellent gate insulation provided by the alumina dielectric.

We report how multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) beaded with spherical crystalline Co₃O₄ nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized based on a simple low temperature supercritical-solution method. The crystalline spherical Co₃O₄ nanoparticles on multiwalled carbon nanotubes are a step towards high-density integrated nanometer-scale functional devices is demonstrated by the fabrication of Schottky junction diodes from individual “beaded” nanotubes.

We present a simple, low-temperature, chemical solution method for coating multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with crystalline multi-walled europium oxide nanotubes. Our studies show that such MWCNTs provide an opportunity for synthesising various rare earth oxide nanotubes, including non-layered structure compounds, potentially useful for nanoscale optoelectronic devices.