A model of carbon nanotube synthesis in arc discharge plasmas

作者：Kundrapu M^*; Li J; Shashurin A; Keidar M

来源：Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics , 2012, 45(31): 315305.

DOI：10.1088/0022-3727/45/31/315305

Nanoparticle growth in arc discharges is analysed numerically. An analysis is carried out for the root growth method of nanotubes in plasmas. The existing models for estimating the growth of nanoparticles in stationary plasmas are extended to plasmas with variable properties. The distributions of velocity, species density and temperature from numerical simulations are used as input to the growth models. The nickel particle diameter obtained from the numerical model is 9.2 nm and the frequency of finding this size in the experiment is 26 on the larger side. The length of the single-walled carbon nanotube obtained from the model is 2.1 mu m, which falls in the upper 10% of the size distribution from experiment. Parametric studies are carried out varying the arc current, inter-electrode gap and background pressure. Results showed 40-95% increment in the nanotube length by increasing the background pressure and the inter-electrode gap. A hot-chamber arc discharge method is proposed to maximize the growth of nanoparticles subjected to the conditions identical to those existing in convectional arc discharges.

• 出版日期2012-8-8