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Facile one-step synthesis of N-doped carbon nanotubes/N-doped carbon nanofibers hierarchical composites by chemical vapor deposition

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Abstract

The composites consisting of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) and nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (N-CNFs) were fabricated using a mixture of nickel foam (template) and imidazole (solid precursor) in a facile one-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The morphology and microstructure of the N-doped carbon nanotubes/N-doped carbon nanofibers hierarchical composites (N-CNTs/N-CNFs) were determined by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicated that the sample manifests regular hierarchical composites, great graphitization, and nitrogen doping. Furthermore, a probable growth mechanism is presented to analyze the composites.

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Acknowledgments

The assistance of Dr. Zhi-Qun Tian (HRTEM measurements) at Guangxi University is greatly appreciated.

Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51762032 and 51462022) and the Natural Science Foundation Major Project of Jiangxi Province of China (Grant 20152ACB20012) provided financial support for this research.

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Correspondence to Shuguang Deng or Gui-Ping Dai.

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Li, HF., Wang, C., Liu, LF. et al. Facile one-step synthesis of N-doped carbon nanotubes/N-doped carbon nanofibers hierarchical composites by chemical vapor deposition. J Nanopart Res 22, 10 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-019-4726-8

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