Carbon nanotube dendrites: Availability and their growth model

Here we report the observation of the carbon nanotube dendrites, in which a carbon nanotube grows up from the outer wall of another one, in the cataly tic pyrolytic product of ferrocene. A simple dendrite consists of two nanot ubes directly connected with each other, without any foreign particles betw een them. The dendritic structure is formed due to the continuous feeding o f catalyst particles during the nanotube growth process, and the growth mod el is proposed. Carbon nanotube dendrites are promising candidates of build ing blocks in nanoscale electronic devices. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.