In this work, a quick and effective method to synthesize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reported; a commercial microwave oven of 600 W at 2.45 GHz was utilized to synthesize CNTs from plasma catalytic decomposition of polyethylene. Polyethylene and silicon substrate coated with iron (III) nitrate were placed in the reaction chamber to form the synthesis stock. The CNTs were synthesized at 750°C under atmospheric pressure of 0.81 mbar. Raman spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscope revealed the quality and entangled bundles of mixed CNTs from which the diameters of the CNTs were calculated to be between 1.03 and 25.00 nm. High resolution transmission electron microscope further showed that the CNTs obtained by this method are graphitized. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis and thermogravimetric analysis revealed above 98% carbon purity.
Advances in the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have emerged as a result of the properties and potential application of carbon nanotubes. We demonstrated a simple approach of using domestic microwave oven with 600W at 2.45 GHz which was modified to produce CNTs from a carbon source on coated silicon oxide substrate. The Raman spectroscopy showed the graphitic nature of the obtained CNTs, with intensity ratio ID/IG calculated to be 0.92. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) reveals CNTs are produced on the substrate surface with outer diameter range of 11-44 nm and length of about 0.25 μm. HRTEM further confirmed the graphitic nature of the CNTs obtained. The purity of the nanotubes was analyzed with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) which showed atomic weight of 98% carbon purity. This paper shows that domestic microwave oven can be used to synthesize CNTs with polymer as the carbon source via plasma catalytic decomposition which was found to be fast, economical and clean technique.
In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized directly on coated silicon substrate via commercial microwave oven at 2.45 GHzf for3 minutes (Sample A) and 4 minutes (Sample B). The plasma provides the required temperature for catalytic decomposition of carbon source (polyethylene) at 750 ?C under atmospheric pressure. Raman spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) techniques are used to characterize the as-synthesized. Results indicate that, the calculated carbon quality was found to be 1.01 and 1.02 for sample A and sample B respectively with average diameter range of (6.0 to 10.0) ± 0.5 nm. The high intensity ratio is attributed to the defect mode in the CNTs. Also, the analysis from FESEM shows twisted and randomly oriented structures with an interlayer spacing of about 0.35 nm in the internal structure of most CNTs. HRTEM further confirmed the interlayer spacing of about 0.35 nm corresponding to FESEM result. The crystallinity of the CNTs was obtained via X-ray diffraction techniques. Lastly, the results indicate sample A and B produces CNTs, with sample B having more graphitic structure than sample A due to duration of synthesis process.
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