Production of carbon nanotubes from an air-propane-butane mixture in a high-voltage atmospheric-pressure discharge with an external magnetic field

The synthesis of nanostructures with carbon nanotubes in a plasma reactor with a high-voltage atmospheric-pressure discharge (voltage 1–4 kV and current to 200 mA) on exposure of the discharge to an external magnetic field with an induction of 0.03 T or higher has been investigated. The composition of the soot products has been studied. The discharge was initiated in a quartz channel between the electrodes from catalytic metals in an atmosphere of hydrocarbons mixed with air. The nanotube yield in the soot product amounted to 10–70%. On imposition of the magnetic field, the yield increased by 10–30%, all other things being equal. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 81, No. 4, pp. 621–629, July–August, 2008.