The morphology and electrical resistance of long oriented vapor-grown carbon fibers synthesized from coal pitch

Long, oriented vapor-grown carbon fibers with high purity were synthesized from coal pitch by chemical vapor deposition using ferrocene as catalyst precursor and hydrogen as carrier gas. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and thermalgravimetric analysis were employed to characterize the morphology and structure of the products. The resistance of a single carbon fiber was also measured. Results revealed that the obtained oriented fibers had an average diameter of 1.0 μm and a bundle length of up to 6.0 cm. Electrical measurements showed a non-linear resistance, decreasing with increasing applied voltage between 0 V and 25 V.