Preparation and mechanical properties of highly-aligned carbon micro-trees

Carbon micro-trees with a diameter of 15–25 μm were synthesized in an acetylene atmosphere by arc-plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition from a coal-based carbon anode using iron as catalyst. The as-obtained carbon micro-trees were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, polarized light microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. It is found that the carbon micro-trees grow on the anode surface as highly-oriented arrays and have an anisotropic yet highly graphitized structure with a solid inner core. The Young’s modulus of the micro-trees was determined to be 0.4 TPa on average, which is comparable to that of carbon nanotubes reported in literature.