Influence of Hydrogen on Growth of Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

AbstractThe influence of hydrogen on the growth of carbon nanostructures in thermal chemical vapor deposition is studied using density functional theory calculations. It is shown that hydrogen adatoms effectively bind to edges of graphitic structures on the Ni (111) surface. This is found to result in a significant decrease of the rate of carbon attachment to the growing graphitic structures. However, it is also demonstrated that the edges of graphitic structures which are attached to steps on the Ni surface should not be hydrogenated.