Spongy carbon nanobeads—A new material

✍ Scribed by Maheshwar Sharon; Kingsuk Mukhopadhyay; Kiyoshi Yase; Sumio Iijima; Yoshinori Ando; Xinluo Zhao

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 498 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-6223
• DOI: 10.1016/s0008-6223(98)00060-8

✦ Synopsis

Spherical carbon nanobeads (solid and hollow) of two sizes of around and 250 nm (small) were synthesized by pyrolysing camphor vapour at 1000°C in an argon atmosphere, using ferrocene, as catalyst, for the first time. The EEL spectrum suggests the carbon beads to be nongraphitic and these are covered by a graphitic shell of 80-100 nm, revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs. The larger beads, more than 10 are interconnected by the outer shell. After covering the train of carbon, the beads take the shape of fibrous graphitic carbon which perhaps gives the spongy elastic character to the material. The average surface area of the nanobeads determined by BET studies is calculated to be 16 m2 g-'. It is suggested that this material may be a useful anode for secondary lithium ion batteries.