Simulation of the first growth phase of single-walled carbon nanotubes using a model based on a cellular automaton

Abstract This paper presents a theoretical study on the first growth phase of single-walled carbon nanotubes. The model adopted is based on a cellular automaton containing as the elementary entities the metal particles and the carbon atoms. It uses an interaction based on phenomenological potentials to define the update function of the automaton. The purpose of this study is to establish the saturation condition of the metal particle with the carbon atoms when the formation of clusters of carbon begins. The results show that the first phase of formation of the carbon clusters can start with the particle partially saturated with carbon atoms.