Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes synthesized from waste chicken fat

• Novelty in this work lies on the new starting material for vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) production which for the first time uses animal oil that is waste chicken fat.
• The selection of chicken fat as an unconventional and alternative carbon source is based on the factors stated in detail in the manuscript.
• Chicken fat oil which was obtained through a rendering process was directly mixed with 5.33 wt% ferrocene as a catalyst to form the synthesis stock.

For the first time, vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) have been successfully synthesized using waste chicken fat as the starting material. Chicken fat oil, which was obtained through a rendering process, was directly mixed with 5.33 wt% ferrocene as a catalyst to form the synthesis stock. A mixture of single- and multi-walled VACNTs was synthesized at a fixed temperature of 750 °C in a thermal chemical vapour deposition furnace. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analyses showed that the produced VACNTs were of excellent quality, comparable to those obtained using conventional carbon sources, with a purity of 88.2% and tube diameters ranging from 18 to 78 nm. Based on our study, waste chicken fat is a promising carbon source for the synthesis of high-quality and high-purity VACNTs.

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