I have been growing SWNT/MWNTs with a variety of hydrocarbons (gas and liquid), but have recently started working using ethanol, so I am curious to know the differences using this material.
The topic was pretty much what I worked on during my PhD. I have been trying different liquid hydrocarbons (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2013.02.041) and so far, ethylbenzene and ferrocene mixture seems to be the most efficient precursor. Campour oil also works pretty well. Depending on what technique you're using, you may get MWCNTs and/or SWCNT from Ethanol. Why different hydrocarbons behave differently in terms of quantity and quality of synthesised CNTs is an interesting topic.