Effect
of Catalyst Pretreatment on Chirality-Selective Growth of Single-Walled
Carbon Nanotubes
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Abstract
We
show that catalyst pretreatment conditions can have a profound effect
on the chiral distribution in single-walled carbon nanotube chemical
vapor deposition. Using a SiO<sub>2</sub>-supported cobalt model catalyst
and pretreatment in NH<sub>3</sub>, we obtain a comparably narrowed
chiral distribution with a downshifted tube diameter range, independent
of the hydrocarbon source. Our findings demonstrate that the state
of the catalyst at the point of carbon nanotube nucleation is of fundamental
importance for chiral control, thus identifying the pretreatment atmosphere
as a key parameter for control of diameter and chirality distributions
