Dynamic instability of individual carbon nanotube growth revealed by in situ homodyne polarization microscopy

TL;DR

This study uses in situ homodyne polarization microscopy to observe individual carbon nanotube growth, revealing stochastic growth rate changes and fluctuations in catalyst configurations, which are crucial for understanding and controlling nanotube synthesis.

Contribution

It introduces a high-throughput, real-time imaging method for individual nanotubes under growth conditions, uncovering dynamic growth behaviors and catalyst fluctuations.

Findings

Approximately half of the nanotubes grow at a constant rate.

The other half exhibit stochastic growth rate changes.

Growth rate ratios remain consistent (~1.7) regardless of chirality changes.

Abstract

Understanding the kinetic selectivity of carbon nanotube growth at the scale of individual nanotubes is essential for the development of high chiral selectivity growth methods. Here we demonstrate that homodyne polarization microscopy can be used for high-throughput imaging of long individual carbon nanotubes under real growth conditions (at ambient pressure, on a substrate), and with sub-second time resolution. Our in situ observations on hundreds of individual nanotubes reveal that about half of them grow at a constant rate all along their lifetime while the other half exhibits stochastic changes in growth rates, and switches between growth, pause and shrinkage. Statistical analysis shows that the growth rate of a given nanotube essentially varies between two values, with similar average ratio (~1.7) regardless of whether the rate change is accompanied by a change in chirality. These switches indicate that the nanotube edge or the catalyst nanoparticle fluctuates between different configurations during growth.