Chemical vapour deposition and nanocarbon self-assembly

Abstract

I will discuss recent quantum chemical simulations^1-7 that show how 1D and 2D carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, nucleat and "grow" during chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Growth of these materials begins with the precipitation and aggregation of carbon atoms to form extended carbon chains, before isomerising to form "islands" of sp²-hybridized carbon on the surface. Continued aggregation leads to extended structures via Smulochowski ripening. I will discuss kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of this self-assembly process, and demonstrate that kinetic-control is a key factor in the growth of carbon nanomaterials. I will also discuss how this mechanism can be controlled via experimental CVD parameters, such as the presence of chemical etchants and applied magnetic fields. Finally I will present a new multi-scale simulation algorithm that enables self-assembly to be simulated over extended timescales.

¹ Y. Wang, A. J. Page, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133, 18837-18842.

² H.-B. Li, A. J. Page, et al., Chem. Comm., 2012, 48, 7937-7939.

³ A. J. Page, Y. Wang, et al., J. Phys. Chem. C, 2013, 117, 14858-14864.

⁴ Y. Wang, A. J. Page, et al., Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 140-144.

⁵ H.-B Li, A. J. Page, et al., Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 3493-3500.

⁶ A. J. Page, S. Saha, et al. J. Am Chem. Soc., 2015, 137, 9281-9288.

⁷ A. J. Page, F. Ding, et al. Rep. Prog. Phys., 2015, 78, 036501.

About Alister Page

Alister Page received his PhD from the University of Newcastle in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded a Fukui postdoctoral fellowship in the group of Prof. Keiji Morokuma at Kyoto University, and in 2012 he was appointed as a Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle. He took up a faculty position in Newcastle in 2013, where he is now a senior lecturer in the Discipline of Chemistry. To date he has published 60 articles, 1 book and 2 book chapters on topics including self-assembly, carbon nanomaterials, ionic liquids, computational chemistry and spectroscopy.

This event is one in a series of seminars run by the School of Chemical Engineering.