Production of petal-like graphite sheets by hydrogen arc discharge Original Research Article

By DC arc-discharge evaporation of graphite in the presence of rarefied hydrogen gas, not only carbon nanotubes but also petal-like graphite sheets were produced on the graphite cathode as a carbon deposit. A large number of interlaced petal-like graphite sheets were observed by scanning electron microscopy on the cathode surface which surrounded the region of carbon deposit including multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The crystal structure of these petal-like graphite sheets was confirmed to be stacking of graphene by using a selected area electron diffraction pattern. Here, we propose a mass production method of petal-like graphite sheets by hydrogen arc discharge evaporation.