Early Stages in the Nucleation Process of Carbon Nanotubes.
(2009) ACS Nano — Vol. 3, n° 3, p. 511-516 (2009)
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- Abstract
- The early stages of carbon nanotube nucleation are investigated using field ion/electron microscopy along with in situ local chemical probing of a single nanosized nickel crystal. To go beyond experiments, tight-binding Monte Carlo simulations are performed on oriented Ni slabs. Real-time field electron imaging demonstrates a carbon-induced increase of the number density of steps in the truncated vertices of a polyhedral Ni nanoparticle. The necessary diffusion and step-site trapping of adsorbed carbon atoms are observed in the simulations and precede the nucleation of graphene-based sheets in these steps. Chemical probing of selected nanofacets of the Ni crystal reveals the occurrence of C(n) (n = 1-4) surface species. Kinetic studies prove C(2+) species are formed from C(1) with a delay time of several milliseconds at 623 K. Carbon dimers, C(2), must not necessarily be formed on the Ni surface. Tight-binding Monte Carlo simulations reveal the high stability of such dimers in the first layer beneath the surface.
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Moors, M., Amara, H., Visart de Bocarmé, T., Bichara, C., Ducastelle, F., Kruse, N., & Charlier, J.-C. (2009). Early Stages in the Nucleation Process of Carbon Nanotubes. ACS Nano, 3(3), 511-516. https://doi.org/10.1021/nn800769w (Original work published 2009)