Effect of Pretreatment of Synthetic and Natural Carbons as Starting Materials for Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon are well known as active materials for energy storage and conversion. They are preferred because carbon materials have high electrical conductivity, low cost, high surface area, porosity, formability and possess good chemical and electrochemical resistivity. The most recently discovered novel carbon material is the carbon nanotubes, having unique geometrical structure and stable mechanical and chemical properties. The starting materials for carbon nanotubes production widely used are high purity graphite. Thus, two types of carbons were studied and thermal treatments were conducted at temperatures ranging from 600 – 800 °C for several hours. The effect of the pretreatment upon their morphology and surface area were looked into. It was found that significant changes occurred for the natural carbons while the synthetic carbons showed little or no changes at the particular temperature range. The thermal treatment has resulted in the exposure of fresh edge planes and microparticles as well as changes in the specific surface area and enhances their adsorption properties.