Mass Production of Carbon Nanofibers Using Microwave Technology

Carbon nanotubes (CNFs) were produced by gas phase single stage microwave assisted chemical vapour deposition (MA-CVD) using ferrocene as a catalyst and acetylene (C2H2) and hydrogen (H-2) as precursor gases. The effect of the process parameters such as microwave power, radiation time, and gas ratio of C2H2/H-2 was investigated. The CNFs were characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Results reveal that the optimized conditions for CNF production were 1000 W reaction power, 35 min radiation time, and 0.8 gas ratio of C2H2/H-2. TEM analyses revealed that the uniformly dispersed CNFs diameters ranging from 115-131 nm. The TGA analysis showed that the purity of CNF produced was 93%.