Formation mechanism of single-wall carbon nanotubes on liquid-metal particles

In this paper, we propose a mechanism for the formation of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT’s) focusing on the possible transition state when tube formation is initiated. The model explains the generation of SWCNT’s from carbon-metal plasmas as well as by the chemical vapor deposition technique. The model qualitatively predicts the experimentally observed dependences of the diameters of SWCNT’s on the experimental parameters. It also explains why very high yields of SWCNT’s can be achieved with mixed metal catalysts.