Carbon Nanofibers Synthesis, Properties and Applications

Department of Polymer Science and Technology, University of Calcutta, 

In 1985 chemists created a new allotrope of carbon [1] by heating graphite to very high temperatures. They named the allotrope buckminsterfuller-ene, after American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller. The buckmin-sterfullerene is a molecule consisting of only 60 carbon atoms (with a molecular formula of C f). The molecules are shaped like tiny soccer balls (therefore sometimes referred to as buckyballs), with an atom at each point 

Smita Mohanty et al (eds.) Polymer Nanocomposites Based on Inorganic and Organic Nanomaterials, (63-88) 2015 Scrivener Publishing LLC 

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Carbon Nanofibers Synthesis, Properties and Applications 79 Table 3.1 Typical tensile properties of carbon fibers, CNFs and CNTs. 

This chapter provides a review of the synthesis, growth, structural properties, and practical applications of carbon nanofibers. The mechanism of growth always involves dissociation of the gas at the metal surfaces, followed by dissolution of carbon into the bulk, followed by diffusion to the surface of the particle where graphite is precipitated. Applications of... 

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