Chemistry of Substrate-Aligned Carbon Nanotubes During and Following Growth

该奖项由化学学部大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目颁发，支持杜克大学刘教授对碳纳米管（CNTs）生长机制的研究。碳纳米管可以是金属的，也可以是半导体的，这取决于它们详细的分子结构。金属纳米管和半导体纳米管适用于非常不同的应用。无论是纯金属碳纳米管还是半导体碳纳米管的生长都是非常具有挑战性的。获得特定类型（金属或半导体）的碳纳米管对于实现下一代基于碳纳米管的纳米电子学至关重要。在过去的十年中，对类型特异性纳米管的选择性生长进行了大量的研究，但取得的进展有限。最近，pi和其他研究小组在实验观察中取得了重大突破，表明半导体碳纳米管的选择性生长是可能的。这种选择性生长的潜在机制尚不清楚，需要更多的实验证明和理论建模来完成和确认这一机制。这一提议将产生关于如何生长适合电子设备的纯半导体碳纳米管的新知识。在这个拟议的项目中，PI将与理论家密切合作，研究碳纳米管生长期间和之后的化学反应。研究人员将研究金属纳米管和半导体纳米管在成核能、生长速度等方面的差异。基于实验结果，研究人员将对生长选择性的机理有更深入的了解。该研究成果将使碳纳米管技术在纳米电子学、生物和化学传感器等领域的广泛应用成为可能。各个层次的学生都将参与这个项目。

This award from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry supports research by Professor Liu of Duke University on the growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CNTs can be either metallic or semiconducting depending on their detailed molecular structures. The metallic and semiconducting nanotubes are suitable for very different applications. The growth of either pure metallic or semiconducting CNTs has been very challenging. Obtaining specific types (either metallic or semiconducting) of CNTs is critical for the realization of next-generation carbon nanotube-based nanoscale electronics. Over the last decade, significant efforts in research have been focused on selective growth of type-specific nanotubes but only limited progress has been made. Recently, there have been important breakthroughs in experimental observations, by the PIs and other research groups, that selective growth of semiconducting carbon nanotubes is possible. The underlying mechanism for such selective growth is still not clear and more experimental proofs and theoretical modeling is needed to complete and confirm the mechanism. This proposal will produce new knowledge on how to grow pure semiconducting carbon nanotubes suitable for electronic devices. In this proposed program, the PI will work closely with theoreticians to study the chemistry during and after the growth of carbon nanotubes. The researchers will study the differences between metallic and semiconducting nanotubes in terms of nucleation energy, growth rate, etc. Based on the experimental results, the researchers will build up deep understanding on the mechanism of the growth selectivity. The results from this research will enable wide range of carbon nanotube technological applications including nanoelectronics, bio- and chemical sensors. Students at all levels will be engaged in the project.