Multiwall carbon nanotubes from pyrolysis of tetrahydrofuran

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes have been prepared by pyrolysing tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the presence of nickelocene. Pyrolysis of the precursor mixture has been achieved at temperature as low as 600 °C. In this simple approach no carrier gas has been used. The yield of purified carbon nanotubes is found to be more than 65%. Characterization of the as-prepared and purified nanotubes are done by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectra.