Chiral-Selective Carbon Nanotube Growth New, Clear Horizons from Theory to Practice
Abstract
The growth of nanotubes with specific chirality is essential for industrial applications and remains a great challenge. Using graphene as a for the representation of the CNT edge, we investigated effects of catalyst type and softness on preferred positioning of the edge as well as its growth shapes. Considering the energetics of the CNT-catalyst interface, we uncovered an edge-type segregated configuration that significantly lowers the energy of chiral nanotubes allowing preference towards mid-chirality CNTs on some catalysts, while combination of the thermodynamic preference towards armchair CNTs on Co and Ni catalysts and kinetic favoring of chiral tubes explained the next to-armchair chiral preference. Those findings provide rich theoretical base for the CNT synthesis with controlled chiral selectivity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 12, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1096515
Entities
People
- Boris I Yakobson
Organizations
- Rice University