High pressure induced formation of carbon nanorods from tetracosane

Abstract

Morphology control of carbon structures is essential for improving their performance in many applications. Direct pyrolysis of organic precursors, however, usually yields bulk amorphous carbon. Therefore, traditional methods for controlling the morphology of carbon structures involve multistep processes and complex precursor molecules. While various methods have been developed under ambient pressure, the impact of pressure on the morphology of the resulting carbon structures remains unexplored. Herein, we present the synthesis of carbon nanorods by direct pyrolysis of the low-cost aliphatic hydrocarbon tetracosane under high pressure conditions. The diameters of the carbon nanorods are adjusted by simply varying the synthetic pressures. High pressure allows controlling both the nanorod morphology as well as the degree of order, and local conductivity of the thus prepared nanorods has been confirmed by conductive atomic force microscopy measurements. Our method promises a convenient strategy to synthesize carbon structures with controlled morphology and high ordered chemical structure, which opens opportunities for potential electronic and electrochemical applications.