Abstract
Quantitative studies regarding the formation of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) from ethylene were conducted. The experiments were carried out at 550°C and the effect of various factors, such as catalyst type, type of a support, and also feed stream composition on the CNF growth was examined. Among unsupported metals tested (iron, nickel and cobalt), only nickel was found to sufficiently decompose pure ethylene (96 gCNFs/gNi were produced). The use of a support and also its type strongly influenced the CNF yields. The positive effect of the presence of hydrogen in the reactant stream on the activity of almost all the samples toward a solid carbon formation was reported. It was shown that under these conditions the most promising catalyst for the decomposition of ethylene is also nickel (around 195 and 184 gCNFs/gNi were formed over 10% Ni/CaCO3 and pure nickel, respectively). However, with a suitable ethylene/hydrogen ratio unsupported cobalt was also found to be a good choice (around 159 gCNFs/gCo were obtained). Iron-based samples exhibited significantly lower activity in the CNF formation, regardless of the feed gas composition. SEM and TEM analyses of the products confirmed filamentous nature of the materials created. The formation of platelet and fishbone nanofibers with the surface areas up to 255m2/g and mesoporous characteristics was reported.
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