Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7853602 | Carbon | 2014 | 38 Pages |
Abstract
The effect of the ratio of oxygen to carbon atoms (O/C) on the morphology of carbon nanostructures has been studied by varying the methanol and ethanol ratio in the reaction mixtures. Notable morphological differences in the synthesized carbon nanostructures are observed as a function of the O/C ratio. At a high O/C ratio, i.e., using methanol (O/CÂ =Â 1), the synthesized carbon nanoshells (CNS) are faceted. Moreover, other faceted nanostructures, such as triangular and hexagonal, are observed in this strong oxidative environment. Decreasing the O/C ratio in the mixture by adding ethanol induces changes in the CNSs morphology; they are less faceted and favor only the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes mixed with the CNSs. The importance of the O/C ratio is corroborated by replacing ethanol (O/CÂ =Â 0.5) with polyethylene glycol (O/CÂ =Â 0.5) in the methanol:ethanol reaction mixture. Finally, at very low O/C ratios, i.e., methanol:octanol mixtures, CNS are obtained and no faceted nanostructures or SWCNT are found. Thus, adjusting the O/C ratio is a method for obtaining high purity samples of CNS. Moreover, the use of the alcohols during the synthetic process is a simple and green method of functionalizing CNS.
Related Topics
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Authors
Emmanuel Segura-Cardenas, Román López-Sandoval, Daniel Hernández-Arriaga, Judith Percino, Victor M. Chapela, Marisol Reyes-Reyes,