Parametric Study of Carbon Nanofiber Growth by Catalytic Ethylene
Decomposition on Hydrotalcite Catalysts
Zhixin Yu1, De Chen1, Bård Tøtdal2, and Anders Holmen1
1
Department of Chemical Engineering,
2
Department of Physics,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
N-7491, Trondheim, Norway
Abstract
Novel catalysts are presented to synthesize carbon naofiber (CNF) from ethylene
decomposition. The catalysts are derived from hydrotalcite (HT) precursors which
contain high amount of active species. The synthesis process has been studied and
optimized as a function of various parameters such as hydrogen content, gas space
velocity, temperature, and catalyst composition. The influence of these parameters on the
deposited carbon nanostructure and quality is investigated. The behaviour of the CNF
yield and quality with respect to these parameters enlightens the ways to improve the
process. The aim of the present article is to report the optimized large scale (hundred
grams per gram catalyst) production process of high quality CNFs at relatively low
temperatures (<650 C). The process is fully reproducible and can be easily scaled up.
Some results:
10 nm
10 nm
Fig.1. HR-TEM images show the fishbone structure CNFs produced at 600 C on the 6:1
catalyst (a) C2H4/CO/H2 (30:10:10); (b) C2H4/CO/H2 (30:10:15). The inclination angle is
marked.