The alternating electrostatic force needed to optimize growth of a carbon nanotube

A carbon nanotube (CNT) vibrates at a specific frequency on the catalyst at the optimum growth temperature. When the potential energy of the CNT is maximized, a carbon atom may be present between the catalyst and the CNT. As such, the potential energy of CNT becomes kinetic energy and this energy is used to couple the CNT to the carbon atom forming the mechanism of the CNT growth. However, during the growth of the CNTs their vibration frequency decreases, slowing down their growth rate. To eliminate this problem, researchers locate the catalyst at the tip of the CNT and make the growth rate constant. Although this procedure allows the growth of CNTs with arbitrary length, the diameter of CNTs is completely dependent upon the catalyst diameter during their growth. In this paper, we develop a method of applying an alternating electrostatic force to CNTs during their growth. The simulation results show that our developed method enables a linear growth of CNTs and their size is not restrained by the catalyst diameter. Copyright © 2008 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.