Synthesis of Carbon Fibers by Combustion Route

Abstract

A study of the synthesis of hollow carbon fibers by combustion route is presented. The synthesis was carried out using sodium azide and calcium carbide as reductants and hexachloroethane as oxidizer. The influence of several factors on the product morphology was investigated, including the catalyst precursor content, the ratio of organic/inorganic carbon precursor, the atmosphere in the autoclave and stoichiometry of the reactants. The developed route is simple and fast. It uses low-cost starting materials and does not require sophisticated equipment.

Keywords:

• Hollow fibers
• carbon fibers
• combustion synthesis
• carbon nanotubes
• nanostructures

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Military University of Technology under Grant no. NBW 13-836. The author would like to thank Prof. S. Cudziło for many helpful and inspiring discussions and Dr. W. Rejmer for checking the language of the manuscript.