The synthesis of carbon nanoballs and its electrochemical performance

Carbon nanoballs were prepared in the presence of acetylene with coke powder as carbon source by arc discharge technique. The arc plasma was diagnosed in situ by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) in the formation process of carbon nanoballs. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), field emission scanning and transmission electron microscope (STEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize carbon nanoballs. The electrochemical performance of carbon nanoballs as an electrode was measured on a multi-channel battery test system to analyze the electrochemical response. The FE-SEM and STEM results show that carbon nanoballs are the main products in acetylene medium. Many carbon nanoballs are sintered together with a few carbon nanotubes (CNTs) inserted into the sintered carbon nanoballs except for a few carbon nanoballs that exist as a single ball. The STEM results show that the diameter of carbon nanoball is mainly in the range of 50–100 nm. The XRD analysis shows that the graphitization of carbon nanoballs is relatively high. The charge–discharge curves of carbon nanoballs show that the cell electrode has a high reversible capacity and the capacity retention could reach 73.7%, which might contribute to the conductivity of CNTs inserted into the sintered carbon nanoballs.