In situ fabrication of carbon nanotube/mesocarbon microbead composites from coal tar pitch

Carbon nanotube/mesocarbon microbead composites have been synthesized from coal tar pitch with carbon nanotubes. How the carbon nanotubes affect the growth and the structure of mesocarbon microbeads are studied. The result shows that the size of beads decreases when more carbon nanotubes are added, and when the ratio of carbon nanotubes is set at 5%, we get the smallest sample with quite uniform shape. Carbon nanotubes exist both on the surface and inside of the samples and they will inhibit the growth and coalescence of these spheres. The addition of carbon nanotubes decreases the graphitization degree of the samples and makes their microtexture tend to be disordered.