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Structural transformation of vapor grown carbon nanofibers studied by HRTEM

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Abstract

Vapor grown carbon nanofibers have been extensively manufactured and investigated in recent years. In this study commercially available vapor grown carbon nanofibers subjected to different processing and post processing conditions were studied employing high resolution TEM images. The analysis showed that the fibers consist primarily of conical nanofibers, but can contain a significant amount of bamboo nanofibers. Most conical nanofibers were found to consist of an ordered inner layer and a disordered outer layer, with the cone angle distribution of the inner layers indicating that these cannot have a stacked cone structure but are compatible with a cone-helix structure. Fibers that have been heat treated to temperatures above 1,500 °C undergo a structural transformation with the ordered inner layers changing from a cone-helix structure to a highly ordered multiwall stacked cone structure. The bamboo nanofibers were found to have a tapered multiwall nanotube structure for the wall and a multishell fullerene structure for the cap of each segment, surrounded by a disordered outer layer. When these fibers are heat treated the disordered outer layers transform to an ordered multiwall nanotube structure and merge with the wall of each segment. The end caps of each segment transform from a smooth multiwall fullerene structure to one consisting of disjointed graphene planes. A reaction-diffusion mechanism is proposed to explain the growth and structure of the bamboo nanofibers.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants DAAD19-03-1-0012 and W911NF-05-1-0542 from the Army Research Office. The authors gratefully acknowledge ASI for supplying the carbon nanofibers and Thomas Hughes and Gerald Glasgow of ASI for discussions on their processing conditions. The expert assistance of Drs. John Mansfield, Kai Sun and Haiping Sun of EMAL at the University of Michigan for the collection of TEM images and diffraction data of nanofibers is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical & Environmental Engineering Department, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Joseph G. Lawrence & Arunan Nadarajah

  2. Mechanical, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Department, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Lesley M. Berhan

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  1. Joseph G. Lawrence
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  2. Lesley M. Berhan
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  3. Arunan Nadarajah
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Correspondence to Arunan Nadarajah.

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Lawrence, J.G., Berhan, L.M. & Nadarajah, A. Structural transformation of vapor grown carbon nanofibers studied by HRTEM. J Nanopart Res 10, 1155–1167 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-007-9341-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-007-9341-4

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