Epitaxial growth of carbon caps on Ni for chiral selectivity

We suggest guiding principles for chirality‐selective growth of single‐walled carbon nanotubes. The chirality of a tube is determined by the carbon cap that forms during nucleation. Controlling the tube chirality requires controlling the nucleation stage. Certain caps can be favored by their epitaxial relationship to a metal surface. Lattice matched caps require ∼0.1 eV/C less formation energy on a Ni surface than non‐lattice matched cap structures. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)