Amplification of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes from Designed Seeds:  Separation of
Nucleation and Growth†

Ogrin, Douglas; Anderson, Robin E.; Colorado,, Ramon; Maruyama, Benji; Pender, Mark J.; Moore, Valerie C.; Pheasant, Sean T.; McJilton, Laura; Schmidt, Howard K.; Hauge, Robert H.; Billups, W. Edward; Tour, James M.; Smalley, Richard E.; Barron, Andrew R.

doi:10.1021/jp0712506.s001

jp0712506_si_001.pdf (1.13 MB)

Amplification of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes from Designed Seeds: Separation of Nucleation and Growth^†

journal contribution

posted on 2007-12-06, 00:00 authored by Douglas Ogrin, Robin E. Anderson, Ramon Colorado,, Benji Maruyama, Mark J. Pender, Valerie C. Moore, Sean T. Pheasant, Laura McJilton, Howard K. Schmidt, Robert H. Hauge, W. Edward Billups, James M. Tour, Richard E. Smalley, Andrew R. Barron

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) may be grown from designed seeds containing an SWNT and the catalyst required for continued growth. Dodecyl side-walled functionalized SWNTs (DD-SWNTs) are end-functionalized with 4-hydroxypyridine via dicyclohexylcarbodiimide coupling to allow covalent coordination of an inorganic cluster pro-catalyst (FeMoC). DD-SWNT-py-FeMoC on spin-on glass was exposed to H₂/CH₄ at 800 °C, resulting in 3-fold growth in the length of 40% of the seed SWNTs. Only ∼1% of the procatalyst alone nucleate SWNTs under the same conditions, suggesting effective separation of the nucleation and growth processes.