Effects of catalyst precursors on carbon nanowires by using ethanol catalytic combustion technique
(Research Center for Sensor Technology, Beijing Information Technology Institute, Beijing 100101, China)
Abstract: Iron nitrate, nickel nitrate and cobalt nitrate were used as catalyst precursors to study their effects on carbon nanowires synthesized by ethanol catalytic combustion (ECC) process. The as-grown carbon nanowires were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that relatively uniform nanowires will be formed when the catalyst precursor is iron nitrate; while helical structure or disordered structure will be formed when the catalyst precursor is nickel nitrate or cobalt nitrate.
Key words: carbon nanowires; ethanol catalytic combustion technique; catalyst precursor