Characterization of flame-generated 2-D carbon nano-disks

Two-dimensional carbon nanostructures have been produced via flame synthesis. Flame conditions and sampling methods have been optimized for the collection of the carbon nanostructures and for their characterization. Atomic Force Microscopy, Differential Mobility Analysis and Raman spectroscopy have been used to characterize the morphology and the chemical composition of these carbon nanostructures. Results show that a network of aromatic compounds connected by non-aromatic bonding arrange to form bi-dimensional structures that assume an atomically thin disk-like shape when deposited on a substrate. The in plane lateral dimension is of the order of tens of nanometers, and the height of about 3 Å. In spite of a significant amount of disorder, Raman spectroscopy evidences that lattice distortion is not very large in these flame nano-disks.