Development and characterization of micro-coil carbon fibers by a microwave CVD system

Abstract

Nano- and micro-coiled carbon fibers find applications in electronic devices, electromagnetic absorbers and filters. Smart devices can be conceived using tunable films on these fibers and tunable host materials. A new method of producing helical carbon fibers with dimensions in the order of less than a micrometer has been developed using microwaves. The microwave CVD system presented here eliminates the use of the toxic impurity gas, which is required in the conventional method. Both methods involve gas phase reactions over a substrate seeded with an appropriate catalyst. Micro-coiled carbon fiber (MCCF) was grown by the catalytic pyrolysis of acetylene on a silicon carbide substrate on which nickel metal powder was dispersed as a catalyst. Various factors, for example flow rate of the gas, particle size of the catalyst, effect of reaction temperature and time, were studied in order to understand the growth of the microwave synthesis of MCCF. MCCFs were also synthesized by a conventional method in the presence of thiophene as an impurity gas so that a comparison can be made with the materials obtained by the microwave system. The morphology of the final products were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The carbon products obtained by traditional and microwave methods were investigated with the help of x-ray diffraction. The effect of various reaction conditions on the morphological development of a MCCF were examined in detail. Furthermore, a brief study was made on the microwave absorbing property of the MCCF.