Formation of carbon nanotubes from a silicon carbide/carbon composite

摘要

The reaction of a SiC/C composite powder in an arcing plasma forms carbon nanotubes in good yield. Besides carbon nanotubes, a Si/C composite composed of beta SiC covered with a shell of graphite is formed. The graphitic carbon surface layers of the carbon shell of this composite reacts further to form carbon nanotubes when heated to 600 deg C This process seems highly effective since only a small overall low weight loss, indicative for a complete carbon shell oxidation is observed by thermal analysis. The formation of the carbon nanotubes from SiC is unlikely since no SiO_2 has been found when heating the SiC/C core shell composite to its reaction temperature of 600 deg C under O_2. The CNTs formed are of good quality with 3 to 6 concentric walls and high aspect ratio. Occasionally even single walled carbon nao-tubes have been observed.