Study on the synthesis of carbon fibers and CNF using potassium iodide catalyst

Most catalysts used in preparing carbon materials by chemical vapor deposition were transitional metals such as Fe, Co, Ni and only a few references were about the synthesis of carbon materials using water-soluble catalysts until now. Compared with metals, water-soluble catalysts can be conveniently removed from products. In our present works, water-soluble salt potassium iodide (KI) was found to be an efficient catalyst to grow carbon fibers and CNF under suitable conditions. Various structures of carbon fibers were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition using KI as the catalyst. And the experimental results showed that the nanostructure evolution of the fibers is strongly dependent on the temperature and history of the catalyst.