Abstract
Carbon filaments have been obtained by the thermal decomposition of mesitylene in the presence of a strong magnetic field. The shape dependence of the pristine carbon filaments on increasing the magnetic field is demonstrated. The proposed mechanism for filament growth involves the formation of a colloid-like system during dehydrogenation and dissociation of mesitylene. The imposed orientation of graphitic clusters (basic structural units) in the strong magnetic-field forces those located at the curved surfaces forming the tips of the filaments to expose their reactive edges, facilitating the observed preferential growth of filaments.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1913-1918 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Carbon |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:V.G. Pol and S.V. Pol thanks Bar-Ilan University, Israel for the financial assistance. J. Calderon-Moreno acknowledges financial support from the MEC project MAT04-01214-323, and Generalitat de Catalunya grant SGR2005-00535.
Keywords
- Carbon filaments
- Microstructure
- Scanning electron microscopy