Nucleation of single wall carbon nanotubes of various chiralities

TL;DR

This paper presents a model predicting the nucleation and growth of single wall carbon nanotubes with various chiralities, highlighting the energetic preference for armchair-like structures based on geometry and energy considerations.

Contribution

A simple predictive model for the nucleation and growth of carbon nanotubes of all chiralities from a graphene sheet on a catalyst surface.

Findings

Armchair-like chiralities are energetically preferred.

The model predicts geometry and energy of tube embryos for all chiralities.

Comparison with experimental data supports the model's predictions.

Abstract

A simple model for the nucleation and growth of single wall carbon nanotubes from a graphene sheet at the surface of a metallic catalyst saturated in carbon is developed. It enables to predict the geometry and energy of tube embryos of all possible chiralities, as well as the way that they can grow. It is shown that armchair-like chiralities are energy preferred for geometrical reasons. This result is discussed and compared to experimental literature.