Abstract
Helical carbon fibers were synthesized by the catalytic decomposition of acetylene as carbon source at low temperature of 240–260 °C with two nanocopper catalysts prepared by the hydrogen-arc plasma method and thermal decomposition of copper tartrate. Two growth modes for helical carbon fibers were obtained. One is mirror-symmetric growth mode, and the other is asymmetric growth mode. In the two growth modes, there were always only two helical fibers in regular shapes that were grown over a single copper nanoparticle. The two helical fibers had identical coil diameter, coil length, fiber diameter, cycle number, tight coil pitch, and cross section. In mirror-symmetric growth mode, the two helical fibers had absolutely opposite helical senses. The catalyst particle size was less than 50 nm and the coil diameter was <100 nm. Whereas in asymmetric growth mode, the two helical fibers had absolutely identical helical senses. The catalyst particle size was larger than 200 nm and their coil diameters reached 1 μm. The catalyst particle size had considerable effect on the growth mode for helical carbon fibers.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dillon AC, Jones KM, Bekkedahl TA, Kiang CH, Bethune DS, Heben MJ (1997) Nature 386:377
Koehne J, Chen H, Li J, Cassell AM, Ye Q, Ng HT, Han J, Meyyappan M (2003) Nanotechnology 14:1239
Qin Y, Zhang ZK, Cui ZL (2003) Carbon 41:3072
Zhang L, Melechko AV, Merkulov VI, Guillorn MA, Simpson ML, Lowndes DH, Doktycz MJ (2002) Appl Phys Lett 81:135
De Jong KP, Geus JW (2000) Catal Rev Sci Eng 42:481
Choi WB, Chu JU, Jeong KS, Bae EJ, Lee JW, Kim JJ, Lee JO (2001) Appl Phys Lett 79:3696
Hirakawa M, Sonoda S, Tanaka C, Murakami H, Yamakawa H (2001) Appl Surf Sci 169–170:662
Baughman RH, Zakhidov AA, Heer WA (2002) Science 297:787
Collins PG, Avouris P (2000) Sci Am 283:62
Kong J, Yenilmez E, Tombler TW, Kim W, Liu L, Jayanthi CS, Wu SY, Laughlin RB, Dai H (2001) Phys Rev Lett 87:106801
Iijima S (1991) Nature 354:56
Tanaka A, Yoon S-H, Mochida I (2004) Carbon 42:591
Chambers A, Rodriguez NM, Baker RTK (1996) J Mater Res 11:430
Yang S, Chen X, Motojima S (2004) J Mater Sci 39:2727. Doi:10.1023/B:JMSC.0000021447.77992.26
Baker RTK, Harries PS, Terry S (1975) Nature 253:37
Hansen PL, Wagner JB, Helveg S, Rostrup-Nielsen JR, Clausen BS, Topsøe H (2002) Science 295:2053
Gorbunov A, Jost O, Pompe W, Graff A (2002) Appl Surf Sci 197–198:563
Chen D, Christensen KO, Ochoa-Fernández E, Yu ZX, Tøtdal B, Latorre N, Monzón A, Holmen A (2005) J Catal 229:82
Cui ZL, Zhang ZK (1996) Nanostruct Mater 7:355
Ermakova MA, Ermakov DY, Kuvshinov GG, Plyasova LM (1999) J Catal 187:77
Takenaka S, Ishida M, Serizawa M, Tanabe E, Otsuka K (2004) J Phys Chem B 108:11464
Acknowledgement
The Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province supported this work financially.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yu, L., Qin, Y., Sui, L. et al. Two opposite growth modes of carbon nanofibers prepared by catalytic decomposition of acetylene at low temperature. J Mater Sci 43, 883–886 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-2191-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-2191-8