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Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.
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Why nanotubes grow chiral.

Vasilii I Artyukhov1, Evgeni S Penev1, Boris I Yakobson2

  • 11] Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Department of Chemistry, and the Richard Smalley Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA [2].

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Controlling carbon nanotube chirality is key to their technological use. This study reveals that near-armchair nanotubes form due to competing interface thermodynamics and growth kinetics, explaining their prevalence.

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Nanotechnology
  • Physical Chemistry

Background:

  • Carbon nanotubes possess unique electronic, optical, and mechanical properties.
  • Controlling nanotube chirality is crucial for harnessing their technological potential.
  • Catalytic growth experiments consistently show a preference for near-armchair nanotubes, defying existing explanations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the underlying mechanisms behind the observed preference for near-armchair carbon nanotubes during catalytic growth.
  • To reconcile experimental observations with theoretical predictions regarding nanotube formation.

Main Methods:

  • Integration of nanotube/catalyst interface thermodynamics with kinetic growth theory.
  • Analysis of competing energetic and kinetic factors governing nanotube formation.

Main Results:

  • The study demonstrates that the prevalence of near-armchair nanotubes arises from a balance between thermodynamic preference for achiral structures and faster growth kinetics of chiral nanotubes.
  • The observed narrow distribution of chirality is mathematically linked to the function xe(-x).

Conclusions:

  • The findings provide a theoretical framework for understanding the preferential formation of near-armchair carbon nanotubes.
  • This work offers critical insights for developing strategies for controlled synthesis of carbon nanotubes with specific chiralities.