Fabrication of conductive carbon nanomaterial from carbonaceous waste

Abstract

The fabrication of conductive carbon nanomaterial has attracted extensive research due to its promising potential in energy application. However, the conventional fabrication methods, e.g. chemical vapour deposition, are expensive due to high energy consumption, which makes it both economically and environmentally unsustainable. The concept of using carbonaceous waste as a precursor for growing carbon nanomaterial has recently been explored. By using carbonaceous waste, the fabrication of conductive carbon will be more sustainable. In this work, a carbonaceous waste has the potential to be a precursor for the fabrication of conductive carbon nanomaterial. Our previous characterisation work showed that the carbonaceous waste had a nano-particle size distribution and possessed conductive property. Due to its inherent nano-particle size, no further size reduction is required. However, the carbonaceous waste had to be leached to remove the toxic heavy metal. After leaching, the conductive property decreased slightly. This work explores the use of hydrothermal treatment of the leached sample at low temperature to modify the surface area and surface functional groups, so as to enhance the conductive property of the carbonaceous waste. The capacitance of the treated carbonaceous residue was also analysed.