Non-thermal Plasma Synthesis of Nanocarbons

Non-thermal plasma application for the synthesis of customized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reviewed. Carbonaceous nanostructures were deposited via a dielectric barrier discharge chemical vapor deposition using various mixtures of plasma gases and carbon-bearing reactants. Aligned carbon nanofibers/tubes (20–50 nm in diameter) were generated by hollow cathode glow discharge plasma decomposition of ferrocene in helium atmosphere on an alumina membrane. The average temperature in the reaction zone, determined by the optical emission spectroscopy, was below 200 °C. The as- deposited product consists of bundles of amorphous carbon nanofibers. Heating at 1100 °C under Ar produced well-crystallized carbon nanotubes.