On the morphology of carbon nanotubes growing from catalyst particles: Formulation of the model

A model is constructed for the growth of nanotubes from metal catalyst particles supersaturated with carbon. An island of the graphene plane on the catalyst surface serves as a nucleus for the formation of nanotubes with different morphologies. The dependence of the type of nanotube nucleating from an island on the catalyst particle size and the minimum number of carbon-metal interaction parameters is determined. These parameters are calculated using the semiempirical quantum-chemical methods. The results of calculations in the framework of the proposed model are compared with the experimental data obtained for the simultaneous formation of nanotubes of several types.