Towards large scale preparation of carbon nanostructures in molten LiCl

This study examines the preparation of graphitic carbon nanostructures, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with both cylindrical and bamboo-like morphology and spherical carbon nanoparticles by electrochemical erosion of graphite cathodes in molten LiCl on a scale of more than 10 g which could easily be increased to a larger scale. A uniform erosion of graphite electrodes was achieved using bare electrodes immersed in molten salt. It was demonstrated that any shadow on the graphite cathode made by ceramic insulators impedes erosion of the electrode. Moreover, the carbon products obtained at different cathode current densities ranging from about 0.4 to 1 A cm−2 were characterized by electron microscopy. Accordingly, a mechanism is proposed for the erosion of the graphite electrodes, based on the electrochemical peeling and etching of graphite flakes in negative electrodes, leading to the formation of CNTs and spherical nanoparticles, respectively.