High-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized from coal by arc discharge

摘要

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were synthesized from coal with transition metals (Fe, Co and Ni) and/or lanthanides as catalyst by an arc plasma method. The SWNTs samples were collected by putting an iron wire cage around the carbon electrodes. After the arc experiments, the as-formed film-like deposits were peeled off the wire cage and were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. It has been found that the film-like deposits consist of SWNTs bundles with quite high purity. The analyses of breathing modes in Raman spectra of these film-like SWNTs reveal that the diameters of the SWNTs are sensitive to the metal catalysts used.