Ecofriendly synthesis of MWCNTs by electric arc in aqueous medium: Comparative study of 6B pencil and mineral graphite |
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| Authors: | Claudir Gabriel Kaufmann Jr Rúbia Young Sun Zampiva Sabrina Arcaro Tiago Bender Wermuth Michel J. Anzanello Luiz Henrique Acauan Annelise Kopp Alves Carlos Pérez Bergmann Sergio Roberto Mortari |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, PPGEP, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul-UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Minas, Metalúrgica e de Materiais, PPGE3M, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul-UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Engenharia de Materiais, PPGCEM, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense -UNESC, Criciúma, Brazil;4. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA;5. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Nanociências, Universidade Franciscana -UFN, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | The production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by electric arc discharge (EA) usually applies pure mineral graphite (PMG) as the precursor electrode due to its high-purity and conductivity. This work investigated the versatility of EA in aqueous medium for the production of CNTs by varying the electrodes purity degree. In this way, a variety of domestic and industrial graphite waste can be recycled into high-quality CNTs by adjusting the EA parameters. CNTs were synthesized using 6B pencil (6BP, ~57% graphite) and their quality and quantity were compared to the PMG (99.995%) production. PMG led to short CNTs (ID/IG 0.266), while the synthesis with 6BP led to long CNTs (ID/IG 0.428). The 6BP CNTs showed elevated quality for application in the electronic, biomedical, and optical fields. |
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| Keywords: | ecofriendly synthesis graphite waste low-cost production mineral graphite replacement MWCNTs |
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