Abstract Submitted to the    NANOTUBE'04 Conference:

We have demonstrated the continued growth of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) from seed SWNTs in a way analogy to molecular epitaxy. The SWNTs grew preferably along the same direction of aligned SWNT substrates and, as Raman spectra suggested, have the same diameter and chirality as those of the SWNT seeds. In this new approach, the seed SWNTs are assembled into a “bed-of-nails” substrate or an “in-plane” membrane such that each tube is in side-by-side van der Waals contact with six others and the “live” end of the tube is exposed. The tube end is etched open, allowing a nanometer sized metal catalyst “dock” to the open end. We are currently optimizing the conditions in order to grow a continuous fiber. If successful this may present a first step toward the synthesis of continuous fibers of crystalline nanotube materials comprising long, parallel nanotubes in an ordered array that have all the same extraordinary mechanical, chemical, thermal, and electrical properties t hat SWNTs exhibit on the nanometer scale.