Carbon nanotubes produced by tunneling of cobalt nanoparticles in carbon fibers

J.L. Li*, H.T. Ye

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been produced by the tunneling of cobalt nanoparticles in carbon fibers that are derived from electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers. During annealing, the PAN fibers transform to a composite of cobalt nanodroplets and carbon fibers. Driven by the high chemical potential of wrinkled graphene platelets and amorphous carbon with respect to graphite, the cobalt nanodroplets are to tunnel in the carbon fibers. When cobalt nanodroplets have an elongated shape, carbon atoms dissolved in the droplets precipitate preferentially and completely at their lateral sides, producing perfect CNTs that form bulk structures.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)255-257
    Number of pages3
    JournalApplied Physics A
    Volume110
    Issue number2
    Early online date7 Nov 2012
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2013

    Keywords

    • electrospun pan
    • pan fiber
    • graphene platelet
    • as-spun fiber
    • perfect cnt
    • short cnt
    • cobalt nanoparticle
    • amorphous carbon
    • polyacrylonitrate fiber
    • metal nanoparticle
    • carbon nanotube
    • hrtem image
    • cnt wall, electromagnetic wave
    • wet spinning

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