Electric field, nanotube growth

Yuegang Z, Aileen C, lien C, Qian W, Woong K, Yiming L, et al. Electric-field-directed growth of aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes. Appl Phys Lett 2001 79 3155-7. 

Ural A, Li YM, Dai HJ. Electric-field-aligned growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes on surfaces. Appl Phys Lett 2002 81 3464-6. 

The growth direction of nanotubes can be controlled by the gas flow or by applying electric fields (plasma-enhanced CVD) [67]. Controlling CNTgrowth with CVD yields more organized CNT that can be readily integrated into addressable structures for fundamental characterization and potential applications. 

Figure 6.58. Examples of the ordered growth of carbon nanotubes. Shown are (a) MWNT arrays grown from squared regions of iron nanoclusters (b) Side-view SEM image of a SWNT power line on Si posts (c) ahgned SWNT growth through electric-field induction. Reproduced with permission from Dai, H. Acc. Chem. Res. 2002, 35,1035. Copyright 2002 American Chemical Society.

Figure 12. Schematic diagram of the evolution of an anodic Ti02 nanotube array (a) Formation of a compact oxide layer, (b) Formation of pits due to the dissolution and breakdown of the barrier oxide film, (c) The barrier layer at the bottom of the pits is relatively thin and this leads to the enhanced electric field assisted dissolution of Ti02, which results in further pore growth, (d) Voids formed in the inter-pores region, (e) Fully developed nanotube array with a corresponding top view [51].

Besides the arrangement enforced by spatial confinement, parallelism of carbon nanotubes can also be achieved by applying an electric field during the growth phase. This concept is realized in the PECVD. The alignment is effected by an electric field between substrate and electrode. The method yields thin MWNT with about four walls that are oriented in parallel to the surface of the substrate which is coated with iron particles. 

Jang YT, Ahn JH, Ju BK, Lee YH. Lateral growth of ahgned multiwalled carbon nanotubes under electric field. Solid State Cormnun 2003 126 305-8. 

Law JBK, Koo CK, Thong JTL. Horizontally directed growth of carbon nanotubes utilizing self-generated electric field from plasma induced surface charging. Appl Phys Lett 2007 91 2431081-3. 

Maeda M, Hyon CK, Kamimura T, Kojima A, Sakamoto K, Matsumoto K. Growth control of carbon nanotube using various applied electric fields for electronic device applications. Jpn J Appl Phys Part 1 2005 44 1585-7. 

Neyts EC, Van Duin ACT, Bogaerts A (2012) Insights in the plasma-assisted growth of carbon nanotubes through atomic scale simulations effect of electric field. J Am Chem Soc 134(2) 1256-1260... 

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