A scalable process for carbon nanotube (CNT) growth on metallic substrates has been developed including dip-coating steps for the wet-chemical catalyst and co-catalyst layer deposition and a subsequent chemical vapor deposition step. Organic metal salt/2-propanol solutions were applied as precursors for alumina co-catalyst thin films and the actual Fe (Co, Mo) catalyst layer. Vertical aligned carbon nanotube forests were obtained on catalyst-coated nickel foil in a thermal CVD process at atmospheric pressure and 730 degrees C using ethene as carbon source. The influence of the catalyst composition on growth rate, density and structure of resulting CNT films was investigated. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.