Investigation of growth dynamics of carbon nanotubes.

Marianna V Kharlamova

doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.85

Abstract

The synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with defined properties is required for both fundamental investigations and practical applications. The revealing and thorough understanding of the growth mechanism of SWCNTs is the key to the synthesis of nanotubes with required properties. This paper reviews the current status of the research on the investigation of growth dynamics of carbon nanotubes. The review starts with the consideration of the peculiarities of the growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes. The physical and chemical states of the catalyst during the nanotube growth are discussed. The chirality selective growth of nanotubes is described. The main part of the review is dedicated to the analysis and systematization of the reported results on the investigation of growth dynamics of nanotubes. The studies on the revealing of the dependence of the growth rate of nanotubes on the synthesis parameters are reviewed. The correlation between the lifetime of catalyst and growth rate of nanotubes is discussed. The reports on the calculation of the activation energy of the nanotube growth are summarized. Finally, the growth properties of inner tubes inside SWCNTs are considered.

Highlights

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) discovered in 1993 [1,2] possess extraordinary physical, chemical and mechanical properties [3]
This paper presented the comprehensive review of the current status of research on growth dynamics of carbon nanotubes
The progress in synthesis methods of nanotubes, in particular the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach, allowed obtaining high purity nanotube forests or individual tubes on substrates and even single chirality tubes, which is the key for the detailed investigation of their growth dynamics

Summary

Introduction

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) discovered in 1993 [1,2] possess extraordinary physical, chemical and mechanical properties [3]. Despite the fact that several authors reported that purely metallic particles catalyze the nanotube growth [52,59,63,64], the authors of [65] performed X-ray diffraction studies (XRD) of catalytic nanoparticles of different chemical elements and showed that “typical” catalysts such as Fe, Ni and Co underwent carburization during the induction phase of the synthesis (the period until the achievement of carbon precipitation), which disappeared after the growth process. In [161], the ac-

Method of synthesis

Findings

Conclusion