Coral-like amorphous carbon nanotubes synthesized by a modified arc discharge

ABSTRACT

A coral-like amorphous carbon nanotube was prepared by a modified arc discharging furnace in hydrogen atmosphere with a mixture of Mo-Co₂O₃-Mg powders as catalyst at 600°C. This carbon nanotube presented a microscopic coral-like by SEM observation and amorphous structure of nanotubes by HRTEM observation. The XRD diffraction and Raman pattern presented noncrystal characteristics compared to the normal graphite structure. We believed that these results may be affected by the “synergistic” effect of catalyst, atmosphere, and temperature in the synthesis process. The possible explanations to the formation mechanism of this novel carbon nanotube have also been proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon nanotubes
• amorphous structure
• modified arc discharge
• coral-like

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 51672221), the China Aeronautical Science Fund (grant 2014ZF53074), and the Graduate Starting Seed Fund of the Northwestern Polytechnical University (grant Z2016002).