Discussion Topic Posted for the NANOTUBE-99 Workshop:

It would be interesting and important to understand how SWNTs grow. After intense studies performed during Catherine Journet PhD work, we propose a model to describe the growth from the early stage of the materials sublimation to the formation of ropes yielding free standing systems. Starting from a gas of the very reactive species, we suggest that the first process to happen consists in the formation of incomplete fullerenes C_n whose closure is prohibited by the presence of the catalyst. Then the dominant mechanism implies a growth of these objects from their foot in contact with a catalyst cluster. The resulting long nanotubes, floating around in the gas phase can then assemble in bundles whose cohesion is insured by van der Waals forces. The final product is then a strongly entangled set of bundles whose ends are not apparent but whose connecting points coincide with catalytic particles. All these assumptions are strongly supported by various experimental results (Raman spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, X-ray diffraction).

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