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

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 H 2 /CH 4 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.