The semiconductor industry is increasingly of the view that Moore's law-which predicts the biennial doubling of the number of transistors per microprocessor chip-is nearing its end. Consequently, the pursuit of alternative semiconducting materials for nanoelectronic devices, including single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), continues. Arrays of horizontal nanotubes are particularly appealing for technological applications because they optimize current output. However, the direct growth of horizontal SWNT arrays with controlled chirality, that would enable the arrays to be adapted for a wider range of applications and ensure the uniformity of the fabricated devices, has not yet been achieved. Here we show that horizontal SWNT arrays with predicted chirality can be grown from the surfaces of solid carbide catalysts by controlling the symmetries of the active catalyst surface. We obtained horizontally aligned metallic SWNT arrays with an average density of more than 20 tubes per micrometre in which 90 per cent of the tubes had chiral indices of (12, 6), and semiconducting SWNT arrays with an average density of more than 10 tubes per micrometre in which 80 per cent of the nanotubes had chiral indices of (8, 4). The nanotubes were grown using uniform size MoC and WC solid catalysts. Thermodynamically, the SWNT was selectively nucleated by matching its structural symmetry and diameter with those of the catalyst. We grew nanotubes with chiral indices of (2m, m) (where m is a positive integer), the yield of which could be increased by raising the concentration of carbon to maximize the kinetic growth rate in the chemical vapour deposition process. Compared to previously reported methods, such as cloning, seeding and specific-structure-matching growth, our strategy of controlling the thermodynamics and kinetics offers more degrees of freedom, enabling the chirality of as-grown SWNTs in an array to be tuned, and can also be used to predict the growth conditions required to achieve the desired chiralities.

The growth of zigzag single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is most challenging among all types of SWNTs, with the highest reported selectivity of ∼7%. Here we realized the dominant growth of (16,0) tubes at the abundance near ∼80% by using intermetallic W6Co7 catalysts containing plenty of (1 1 6) planes together with optimizing the growth conditions. These (1 1 6) planes may act as the structure templates for (16,0) SWNTs due to the geometrical match between the open end of the (16,0) tube and the atomic arrangements of the (1 1 6) planes in W6Co7. Using catalysts with designed structure as solid state template at suitable kinetic conditions offers a strategy for selective growth of zigzag SWNTs.

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWNTs) with diameters of 1.0-1.5 nm (with similar bandgap to crystalline silicon) are highly desired for nanoelectronics. Up to date, the highest reported content of s-SWNTs as-grown is ∼97%, which is still far below the daunting requirements of high-end applications. Herein, we report a feasible and green pathway to use HO vapor to modulate the structure of the intermetallic WCo nanocrystals. By using the resultant WCo nanocatalysts with a high percentage of (1 0 10) planes as structural templates, we realized the direct growth of s-SWNT with the purity of ∼99%, in which ∼97% is (14,4) tubes (diameter 1.29 nm). HO can also act as an environmentally friendly and facile etchant for eliminating metallic SWNTs, and the content of s-SWNTs was further improved to 99.8% and (14,4) tubes to 98.6%. High purity s-SWNTs with even bandgap determined by their uniform structure can be used for the exquisite applications in different fields.

A fruitful paradigm in the development of low‐cost and efficient water splitting systems for hydrogen generation is to search the highly active non‐noble catalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, the electrocatalytic HER activity of nanostructured amorphous nickel boride (Ni−B) alloy has been investigated. Amorphous Ni−B has exhibited excellent catalytic efficiency and long‐term stability for HER over a broad pH range, which is actually comparable to the performance of Pt. This high catalytic activity is due to the amorphous structure and the moderate electron structure of Ni−B. The Ni−B catalyst is easily obtained via electroless plating technique and we could get a supported Ni−B catalyst on desired substrates. Given the low cost, abundance, corrosion resistance, high efficiency and ease of fabrication, amorphous Ni−B is among the best alternatives to noble metal hydrogen evolution catalysts for water splitting.