Simulation and modeling of carbon nanotube synthesis: current trends and investigations

A review of significant investigations reported on simulating the nucleation and growth processes of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using different modeling techniques is presented here. Special emphasis is given to the chemical vapor deposition method, being the cheapest and most versatile of the fabrication methods. The modeling methods involve the conventional computational fluid dynamics approaches as well as discrete computation techniques. Some in-house investigations utilizing chemical kinetic modeling and discrete computations to predict the growth of CNTs using the chemical vapor deposition method are also discussed. The modeling and simulation techniques reviewed here are expected to assist in the design of chirality-specific single-walled CNT synthesis systems.