Interplay of Wetting and Elasticity in the Nucleation of Carbon Nanotubes
Name
Schebarchov-2011-Interplay of wetting and elasticity in the nucleation of carbon.pdf
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794.46 KB
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Author(s)
Schebarchov, Dmitri
Hendy, Shaun C.
Ertekin, Seyda
Grossman, Jeffrey C.
Date Issued
October 2011
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Citation
Schebarchov, Dmitri et al. “Interplay of Wetting and Elasticity in the Nucleation of Carbon Nanotubes.” Physical Review Letters 107.18 (2011): n. pag. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. © 2011 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We use molecular dynamics and simple thermodynamic arguments to model the interaction between catalyst nanoparticles and carbon nanotube caps, and we illustrate how the competition between cap strain energy and adhesion plays a role in the lifting of these caps from the catalyst surface prior to tube elongation. Given a particular cap structure, we show that there is a lower bound on the catalyst size from which the cap can lift. This lower bound depends on the cap’s spontaneous curvature and bending rigidity, as well as the catalyst binding strength, and it explains the mismatch between single-walled carbon nanotube and catalyst diameters observed in prior experiments. These findings offer new insight into the nucleation of carbon nanotubes, and they may lead to the design of catalysts that can better control nanotube structure.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.185503
