Growth of carbon nanotubes on a gold (111) surface using two-dimensional iron oxide nano-particle catalysts derived from iron storage protein.

We report here the preparation of two-dimensional iron oxide nano-particles from the iron storage protein ferritin immobilized on a gold surface. This paper also reports the novel finding of the lattice-oriented like growth of carbon nanotubes on a gold (111) surface using the obtained two-dimensional iron oxide nano-particles on the gold surface as a catalyst.