Formation of wedge-shaped carbon film by chemical vapor deposition method and observation using transmission electron microscopy

Unusual morphologies of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) fabricated by the microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. In particular, the presence and distribution of wedge-shaped carbon films, consisting of amorphous carbon and CNFs, were observed by three-dimensional electron tomography (3D-ET), and their growth mechanisms were modeled. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed the presence of amorphous carbon on carbon nanofibers. Wedge-shaped carbon films are most likely caused by the bridging of individual CNFs by amorphous carbon from plasmarized carbon. The combination of 3D-ET and HRTEM clearly provides a successful strategy for determining 3D morphologies with characteristic sizes on the nanometer scale.