Synthesis of Amorphous Carbon Nanostructures from Coal by Chemical Solid Synthesis Method

The coal has been considered as a suitable carbon source in recent years because the specific nanostructures have been synthesized from carbon cyclic fragments in it. The Synthesis condition in solid phase was studied for the first time and it can be shifted the path of pyrolysis and carbonization processes to carbon nanostructures synthesis. In this study, amorphous porous carbon nanotubes and nanorods are synthesized by using direct co-carbonization of bituminous coal in the presence of 7 by weight of catalyst at 800°C. The temperature and duration of carbonization are 800°C and 60 minutes, respectively. By using of Ferrocene as a catalyst, amorphous carbon nanotubes inner diameter: 50-200nm and thickness: 1-2 nm are synthesized, while the magnetite nanoparticles with a diameter of 50-70nm result in the formation of nanorods with an average outer diameter of 80 nm as same as the diameters of catalyst nanoparticles. The samples have been analyzed by Scanning and Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results show that iron nanoparticles due to Ferrocene and magnetite nanoparticles at 800°C lead to the growth of carbon nanostructures.