The surface study of different foils such as titanium, copper, stainless steel and graphite has been conducted in order to improve the aligrnent, diameter distribution, structure and the yield of carbon nanostructures.Different characterization techniques such as STEM, AFM, contact angle measurements but also Raman spectroscopy were used to understand better the direct contact between the catalyst particle and the foil surface.A relationship between the structure of nanocarbon and surface tension energy of foils will be addressed.