Synthesis/Preparation of Carbon Materials

This chapter focuses on the synthesis/preparation of different carbon materials namely, diamond, fullerene, graphite, carbon black, carbon fiber, carbon nanofiber, carbon nanotube, and graphene. Though there are several methods of synthesis/preparation of carbons, the most common and important ones are discussed herein. The synthesis of diamond has been majorly focussed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, whereas the other ion beam sputtering method and an ionized deposition method has also been mentioned herein. The preparation of carbon black by various processes has been reported. Moreover, carbon black is also prepared by pyrolysis of polymer and hydrocarbon, plasma synthesis, and by hydrolysis of natural resources. Carbon fibers of high performance derived from different precursors are discussed in details. Carbon nanofiber is synthesized by CVD as well as electrospinning and template methods. Physical methods like laser ablation, arc discharge, and chemical method like CVD are used to prepared carbon nanotube effectively. Two approaches namely top-down and bottom-up are considered to discuss the synthesis of graphene by different methods. The methods are discussed pictorially or diagrammatically where necessary.