Threshold barrier of carbon nanotube growth

  • Qinghong Yuan*
  • , Hong Hu
  • , Feng Ding
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

A previously overlooked step of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth, incorporating C atoms into the CNT wall through the CNT-catalyst interface, is studied by density functional theory calculations. A significant barrier for incorporating C atoms into the CNT wall (∼2eV for most used catalysts, Fe, Co, and Ni) is revealed and the incorporation can be the threshold step of CNT growth in most experiments. In addition, the temperature dependent CNT growth rate is calculated and our calculation demonstrates that growing 0.1-1 m long CNTs in 1 h is theoretically possible.

Original languageEnglish
Article number156101
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume107
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Jun 2011
Externally publishedYes

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