Effects of mechanochemical treatment of Ni–Al(OH)3 on the preparation of carbon nanomaterials by thermal CVD

Carbon nanomaterials have been prepared by the thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method in which C2H2 gas was deposited on the Ni–Al(OH)3 mixture pretreated by mechanochemical treatment with a high-energy mill. As the duration time of grinding for the Ni–Al(OH)3 mixture by the mixer mill is increased, amorphous Al(OH)3 and smaller Ni particles agglomerated into spheres. With unground and 120-min ground mixture of Ni–Al(OH)3, carbon nanomaterials were prepared at 500 and 600 °C. As a result, carbon nanomaterials prepared on a ground mixture have more uniform morphologies than those of the unground mixture. The characterization of Ni–Al(OH)3 mixture and as-prepared carbon samples was done by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and current–voltage (I–V) measurement.