The Effect of Graphitization Temperature on the Composition and the Electrical Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube
Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been intensively investigated due to their superior electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. In this work, CNT were synthesized using a relatively simple method that is catalytic graphitization. Catalytic graphitization was performed using bacterial cellulose as precursor, iron (III) chloride hexahydrate (FeCl3 ·6H2O) as catalyst and chitosan as coupling agent and dispersant. Bacterial cellulose (cellulose source) was obtained by fermenting medium using acetobacter xylinum. Prior to usage, bacterial cellulose was chemically treated by soaking in a 0.5% chitosan solution for 2 hours at room temperature, followed by soaking in a 0,1 M catalyst solution at a temperature of 60 ∘C for 24 hours. The previous work did not variate the graphitization temperature, so in this work graphitization was conducted in a furnace under the flow of inert nitrogen gas atmosphere at 600 ∘C, 750 ∘C, 900 ∘C, and 1000 ∘C for 2 hours. CNT samples were characterized using Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and LCR meter. The results indicate that the optimum catalytic graphitization temperature of CNT is 1000 ∘C which creates a bamboo-like CNT structure. It was also found that the electrical conductivity depends linearly on graphitization temperature. The highest electrical conductivity of 7.41x104 S/m is obtained for CNT sample synthesized at 1000 ∘C.
Keywords: Carbon nanotube, Catalytic graphitization, Bacterial cellulose, Chitosan, Electric conductivity
References
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