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In situ evidence for chirality-dependent growth rates of individual carbon nanotubes

Nature Materials volume 11, pages 213–216 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Chiral-selective growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) remains a great challenge that hinders their use in applications such as electronics and medicine. Recent experimental1,2 and theoretical3,4 reports have begun to address this problem by suggesting that selectivity may be achieved during nucleation by changing the catalyst composition or structure. Nevertheless, to establish a rational basis for chiral-selective synthesis, the underlying mechanisms governing nucleation, growth, and termination of SWNTs must be better understood. To this end, we report the first measurements of growth rates of individual SWNTs through in situ Raman spectroscopy and correlate them with their chiral angles. Our results show that the growth rates are directly proportional to the chiral angles, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions5,6. Importantly, the evidence singles out the growth stage as responsible for the chiral distribution—distinct from nucleation and termination which might also affect the final product distribution. Our results suggest a route to chiral-selective synthesis of SWNTs through rational synthetic design strategies based on kinetic control.

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Figure 1: In situ Raman spectroscopy and growth of a SWNT.
Figure 2: SEM image and Raman spectrum from an individual SWNT.
Figure 3: Chirality-dependent growth of SWNTs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to J. Lou for substrate fabrication. We also thank J. Busbee, A. Harutyunyan, G. Chen, N. Pierce, P. T. Murray and E. A. Stach for helpful discussions and assistance, and S. Maruyama for assistance with sample design. The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Research Council.

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  1. Rahul Rao

    Present address: Present Address: Honda Research Institute, Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, RXBN, WPAFB, Ohio 45433, USA

    Rahul Rao, David Liptak, Tonya Cherukuri & Benji Maruyama

  2. UES Inc., Dayton, Ohio 45432, USA

    David Liptak

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, and Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA

    Boris I. Yakobson

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  1. Rahul Rao
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  5. Benji Maruyama
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Contributions

R.R. designed and conducted the experiments. D.L., R.R. and T.C. designed and constructed the instrumentation. D.L. wrote the software for data acquisition and analysis. B.I.Y. provided the theoretical analysis. B.M. guided the research direction and assisted in data analysis. All authors contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rahul Rao or Benji Maruyama.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Rao, R., Liptak, D., Cherukuri, T. et al. In situ evidence for chirality-dependent growth rates of individual carbon nanotubes. Nature Mater 11, 213–216 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3231

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