Synthesis of metal–carbon nanocomposites containing nanoparticles of transition metals encapsulated in a graphite-like shell

It was shown that methane decomposition on metal–carbon nanocomposites with transition metal (Co, Fe, and Ni) nanoparticles distributed in the bulk of the amorphous carbon matrix leads to carbon deposition with the formation of a graphite-like shell around a metal core. The resulting “core-shell” structures have a diameter of 10–40 nm and contain up to 50 graphene layers with an interlayer distance of 0.34–0.35 nm. For the synthesis of the initial metal–carbon nanocomposites, a method that we proposed earlier was used, which involves low-temperature formation of carbon structures from carbon-chain chloropolymers based on their dehydrochlorination with the formation of polyvinylenes as reactive carbon precursors.