Nanotubos de carbono con Fe en su interior sintetizados vía microondas

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes can be synthesized by various techniques, of which the most common are electric discharge, laser ablation and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Yet each of the above techniques have their limitations and therefore it is necessary to explore other alternatives.The importance of synthesizing carbon nanotubes by microwave is that it allows to improve aspects such as selective and homogeneous heating of the samples, to reduction of time to complete the required processes, efficient selection of carbon nanotubes and production costs. Also this technique is planned as a method for the production of aligned carbon nanotubes and multilayer as well as the synthesis of carbon nanostructures can be valuable for investigation. In this work the synthesis and characterization of carbon nanotubes inside Fe obtained from a mixture of graphite and iron acetate as energy source using a microwave oven for domestic use. The samples were prepared in sealed quartz ampules of varying the following experimental conditions: weigth of the mixture graphite – iron acetate, and mechanical milling time microwave irradiation.The samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (DRX). Characterization of samples, the analysis allowed us to observe how experimental conditions affect described above in the diameter of carbon nanotubes, nanotube percentage in the samples, phases present in the samples, as well as the presence of other nanostructures of carbon. Finally we found with that experimental conditions were obtained the largest number of carbon nanotubes.