Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon-Stabilized Magnesium Nanoparticles

Magnesium nanopowder has attracted many interests in the recent years, which has a very difficult and costly synthesis process because of its high activity. In this work, magnesium nanoparticles stabilized with amorphous carbon (Mg-C nanoparticles) were synthesized by submerged arc discharge technique in kerosene. The arc discharge was generated between two electrodes of magnesium at the arc current of 1 A and arc voltage of 50 V. Mg-C nanoparticles were characterized by various techniques. Dynamic light scattering result indicated that size of magnesium nanoparticles is about 35 nm. X-ray diffraction showed that the produced sample consisted of hexagonal magnesium and amorphous carbon and there was no presence of magnesium oxides in the pattern. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy results illustrated that the sample has morphology of agglomerated nanospheres. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy demonstrated formation of 57 percent magnesium and 43 percent carbon. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed that the amorphous carbon increased ignition temperature of nanoparticles by 180 degrees C compared to pure magnesium micron-sized powder. Therefore, Mg-C nanoparticles can have many applications in different fields similar to magnesium nanopowders. However, by producing Mg-C nanoparticles, there is no need for vacuum chamber or inert gases during production and after that, since amorphous carbon protects magnesium nanoparticles from oxidation.