Formation of carbon on non-porous Ni mesh during the catalytic pyrolysis of acetylene

Unsupported catalysts show great promise for the production of nanocarbon material. This study aims to investigate the formation of carbon nanofibres from the pyrolysis of acetylene using a non-porous mesh as a catalyst. Our results showed that temperature and total gas flow rate have significant effects on the formation of carbon nanofibres on the non-porous Ni mesh catalyst. Opposite effects of gas flow rate on the yield of carbon on Ni mesh surface were observed for the pyrolysis of acetylene at low (620 °C) and high (750 °C) temperature. Analysis of carbon nanofibres using scanning electron microscopy, FT-Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis showed that the structural ordering in the produced carbon changed with the yield of carbon.

► Carbon formation on Ni mesh catalyst was affected by the formation of Ni particles during the initial stage.
► Gas flow rates affected on the final yield of carbon in opposite way at different temperature.
► Structural crystallinity of carbon was evaluated by FT-Raman spectroscopy and TGA.