Dissociation of ethanol on a nickel cluster is investigated by ab initio molecular dynamics simulation to reveal the bond dissociation mechanism of carbon source molecules during carbon nanotube synthesis. C-C bonds in only CHxCO fragments are dissociated on the nickel cluster, whereas there is no preferential structure among the fragments for C-O bond dissociation. The dissociation preference is uncorrelated with the bond dissociation energy of corresponding bonds in freestanding molecules but is correlated with the energy difference between fragment molecules before and after dissociation on the nickel surface. Moreover, carbon-chain formation occurs after C-C bond dissociation in a continuous simulation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.