Carbon nanomaterial synthesis in microwave system

Carbon nanomaterials have become the subject of numerous studies since the discovery of production methods for carbon nanotubes in 1991 and for graphene in 2004 owing to their extraordinary physical and chemical properties. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have already found their applications in but not limited to sports equipments, automotive industry and defence industry. Catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CCVD) method has dominated CNT production over the years since its discovery. In CCVD method; a metal catalyst, a carbon precursor, heat, inert medium and a carrier gas are required. Even though CCVD is a well developed and studied method, efforts towards finding simpler and cheaper methods to synthesize CNTs are needed. The properties of CNTs are usually related to their respective production method. Its possible that different approaches for CNT production are better suited for some applications than others. In this study, CNTs as well as other carbon nanostructures are synthesized in a domestic microwave oven in atmospheric pressure and medium. Graphite, ferrocene and carbon fiber are used for synthesis with the addition of benzene to these materials as a carbon precursor at later stages of the study. CNTs obtained at different reactant compositions are purified with a suitable method and then were characterized by Raman analysis, SEM, UV-vis spectrophotometry and particle size distribution studies. It was concluded that the total mass of reactants used for he reaction volume is the most important parameter for the efficiency of the process.The composition of the reactants had a secondary effect on yield. In the synthesis process, onion like carbon nanospheres were also obtained as a by product to CNTs.