Diffusion- and Reaction-Limited Growth of Carbon Nanotube Forests

he growth of carbon nanotubes by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is of great interest for applica-tions such as composites, conducting com-posites, transparent electrodes13 and for in-terconnects, supercapacitor electrodes, thermal management films, microelectrome-chanical systems (MEMS), adhesive layers, and yarns.48 The latter applications require the controlled, surface-bound growth of high-density vertically aligned forests or “mats ” of multi-walled912 or single-walled nanotubes.1317 For these reasons, it is of great importance to understand which pro-cesses control the growth rate, which factor