The production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by electric arc discharge (EA) usually applies pure mineral graphite (PMG) as the precursor electrode due to its high‐purity and conductivity. This work investigated the versatility of EA in aqueous medium for the production of CNTs by varying the electrodes purity degree. In this way, a variety of domestic and industrial graphite waste can be recycled into high‐quality CNTs by adjusting the EA parameters. CNTs were synthesized using 6B pencil (6BP, ~57% graphite) and their quality and quantity were compared to the PMG (99.995%) production. PMG led to short CNTs (ID/IG 0.266), while the synthesis with 6BP led to long CNTs (ID/IG 0.428). The 6BP CNTs showed elevated quality for application in the electronic, biomedical, and optical fields.
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