Growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes from Ag15 cluster catalysts

Chirality-specific growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) remains a challenge for their practical applications in electronics. Here, we explored the surface growth of SWNTs by utilizing the atomic-precise silver cluster complex [Ag15{1,3,5-(C≡C)3-C6H3}2(Py[8])3-(CF3SO3)3] (CF3SO3)6 (Py[8] is abbreviation for octamethylazacalix[8] pyridine) as a catalyst precursor. The diameters of most acquired SWNTs distributed in the range of 1.2-1.4 nm, which is suitable for making high performance field-effect transistors. The high quality of the obtained SWNTs was evidenced by Raman spectroscopy and electrical measurements. Successful growth of high quality SWNTs in this study foresees that rational design of metal-organic complexes as growth catalysts can open up a new avenue for the controllable synthesis of SWNTs.