Porous carbon nanoturf using anodized alumina templating
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Porous carbon nanoturf using anodized alumina templating Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan, Krishna Dronavajjala and Henry C. Foley Department of Chemical Engineering 158, Fenske Laboratory Pennsylvania State University Abstract This paper reports the development of porous carbon nanoturfs using alumina templating method. The nanoporous carbon has a pore size of 4 -5 Å. The length of the pillars in the carbon nanoturf was a function of temperature. It was shown that the pyrolysis of the polymer precursor reduces the dimensions of the polymer only in axial direction as compared to radial direction when it is formed inside the nanochannels. Introduction Nanostructured materials have taken ascendancy in the last decade and have potential applications in various fields that include microelectronics, optics, sensors, nanotemplates, gas storage and catalyst supports [1]. The main properties of interest that have been studied widely in literature are electrical, optical and magnetic properties. The materials are generally synthesized in the form of nanoparticles, nanowires and nanotubes. Some of the materials that have been widely studied are carbon nanotubes, titania, gold and nickel nanowires [2-3]. Nanostructures are made by different techniques that include templating methods, lithography techniques and self assembled monolayer techniques [4]. Nanowires especially have been synthesized widely using anodized alumina templating method which provides vertically aligned nanochannels of different pore dimensions [5]. This method is versatile in terms of synthesizing nanostructures of any materials that can be prepared by chemical, electrochemical or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods [6].
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Carbon nanostructures in the form of nanotubes and nanofibers are widely studied due to their interesting electrical and mechanical properties [1]. Single walled and multiwalled nanotubes are synthesized by decomposition of hydrocarbons using arc discharge and chemical vapor deposition techniques [7]. Carbon Nanofibers have been synthesized using polymer precursor such as polyacrylonitrile by using the templating method [8]. In this paper, we report polymerization of polyfurfuryl alcohol in the nanochannel followed by pyrolysis to yield porous carbon nanoturf. Experimental Preparation of anodized template Anodized alumina templates were prepared using 0.13mm thick aluminum foil as the anode and lead foil as the cathode. A potential of 40V was applied between the electrodes. Aluminum foil was electrochemically cleaned in a bath containing 18% (by vol.) perchloric acid and 82% (by vol.) ethanol at an applied potential of 7.0V for 4 minutes. The cleaned foil was anodized at 40 V for 10 minutes at 2 0C and etched in 0.2M phosphoric acid for 15 minutes. A second anodization step of 40 V was applied for 10 hours at 2 0C to form the anodized template. The pores of the anodized template were slightly widened by immersing the template in 0.2M phosphoric acid for 1 hour. Preparation of carbon nanoturf 0.1M p-toluenesulfonic acid monohy
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