Carbon Nanotube Forest Growth: Catalyst-Controlled Self-Termination (2D)

Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) "forests" are grown by seeding a substrate with a dense pattern of metal catalyst nanoparticles and feeding them a carbon-bearing gas inside a CVD reactor. Each particle nucleates and drives the growth of its own tube, decomposing carbon and adding it to the wall — until subsurface carbon diffusion and Ostwald-ripening-driven sintering deactivate the catalyst and growth stops. This 2D side-view simulator numerically integrates a per-tube catalyst-activity decay ODE alongside the growth-rate ODE it drives, every animation frame, so the saturating-exponential height-vs-time curve is genuinely computed rather than scripted — driven by five real CVD recipe parameters: catalyst nanoparticle diameter, carbon feedstock flow, growth temperature, initial catalyst activity and deactivation rate. Live readouts track forest height, instantaneous growth rate, remaining catalyst activity and elapsed process time, alongside a live-plotted height-vs-time curve, as the run plays out.