Synthesis of carbon nanotubes by laser ablation in graphite substrate of industrial arc electrodes

Abstract

In this work, an inexpensive and simple technique for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by using graphite as the target for IR laser radiation is presented. This graphite material is obtained from the recycled graphite electrode core of an electric arc furnace. The experiment was carried out in a reaction chamber in an argon atmosphere at a low pressure. For laser ablation, a Lumonics TEA CO2 laser beam (7 J; 0.05–50 μs pulse length) was used in multimode operation. Products were collected on free mica sheets. The substrates were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the products were characterized (collected as powder) by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). They showed significant amounts of high-quality dense filaments (CNTs) that were morphologically not aligned.