Preparation of vapor-grown carbon fibers from deoiled asphalt

Vapor-grown carbon fibers (VGCFs) with high-purity have been successfully prepared from the thermal cracking of deoiled asphalt (DOA) with ferrocene as catalyst by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in argon atmosphere and characterized systematically by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Results showed that VGCFs with a diameter of 150–200 nm and a maximum length of 10–40 μm can be obtained.