Synthesis of carbon nanotubes and nanobelts through a medial-reduction method

The method of medial-reduction has been developed for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes and nanobelts. In this process, Mg was used as reductant, and Na2CO3 and CCl4 were used as carbon sources, respectively. X-ray power diffraction (XRD) patterns were used to identify the designed reaction process and carbon structure. Scanning electron microscopy studies showed that as-synthesized products were composed of a large number of carbon nanotubes with diameters of 60-200 nm. Transmission electron microscopy investigations indicated that both types of carbon nanotubes could be observed. Furthermore, carbon nanobelts were found to be coexistent in the as-prepared products. High-resolution transmission electron micrography images showed that as-synthesized carbon materials consisted of graphite layers, whose interlayer spacing was about 0.34 nm. The experimental results indicated that the spiral growth mechanism might be operative during the formation of carbon nanotubes.