The Production of Carbon Nano-Onions and Wheat Stalk Nano-Chains over Stainless Steel Supported La_0.95Mg_0.05Ni_0.8Co_0.2O₃ Catalyst

Abstract

Over the 316 stainless steel mesh supported La_0.95Mg_0.05Ni_0.8 Co_0.2O₃ perovskite structured catalyst, undiluted methane was cracked into hydrogen and highly graphitic carbon nano-onions (CNOs) and wheat stalk chains, the former was first produced in cheaper and simpler way and the later was first discovered. The Fe-Cr nano-alloy was responsible for the formation of the CNOs while the Ni or Ni-Fe nano-alloy was for the formation of carbon nano-wheat stalk chains. This process realized the ultimate ideal goal for the natural gas utilization: zero emission, clean hydrogen production, zero waste, and highly valuable carbon recycling. Moreover, the capacitances of the CNOs were evaluated by the cyclic voltammetry at different scan rates. The result indicated the capacitance of the CNOs was higher than that of Vulcan XC-72 carbon black, showing their promising applications in supercapacitors.

Keywords:

• carbon nano-materials
• La_0.95Mg_0.05Ni_0.8Co_0.2O₃
• methane cracking

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21203136), the Project for Importing Talent of Taiyuan University of Technology (tyut-rc201120a, tyut-rc201110a, tyut-rc201101a), the colleges and universities of Shanxi Province overseas returnee Research Fund Project (2011-14), the Shanxi Scholarship Council of China (2012-035), and the ARC (Australian Research Council) project LP0669748.