Direct synthesis of solid and hollow carbon nanospheres over NaCl crystals using acetylene by chemical vapour deposition

Abstract Carbon nanospheres (CNS) with hollow and solid morphologies have been synthesised by a simple chemical vapour deposition method using acetylene as a carbon precursor. Sodium chloride (NaCl) powder as a template was used for the direct growth of CNS via facile and low-cost approach. The effect of various temperatures (500 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C) and acetylene flow rates were investigated to study the structural evolution on the carbon products. The purified CNS thus obtained was characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Raman spectroscopy, and cyclicvoltametry. The synthesised hollow nanospheres were investigated as anode materials for Li-ion batteries. After 25 cycles of repeated charge/discharge cycles, the discharge and charge capacities were found to be 574 mAh/g and 570 mAh/g, respectively which are significantly higher than the commercial graphite samples.