Structural Characterization of Arc Discharged-Synthesized Carbon Nanostructures in Sodium Chloride Aqueous Solution

Abstract

In this paper, various types of carbon nanostructures such as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), carbon nanoparticles and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were directly synthesized from graphite rod using arc discharge in water and NaCl solution. The properties of carbon nanostructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). SEM Observations revealed that grown MWCNTs have nominal diameter in the range of 20-35 nm, diameter of carbon nanoparticles ranging from 15-20 nm. The XRD measurements revealed that the carbon nanostructures were a pure polycrystalline with a hexagonal structure with preferential orientation along the (002) direction.