Nanosized Carbon Particles From Natural Gas Soot
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Carbon nanoparticles were prepared by refluxing the combustion soot of natural gas in nitric acid. Transmission Electron Microscopy measurements showed that the resulting particles exhibited an average diameter of 4.8 ± 0.6 nm, and the crystalline lattices were consistent with graphitic carbons. 13 C NMR and FTIR spectroscopic measurements further confirmed the presence of sp 2 carbons in the form of aryl and carboxylic/carbonyl moieties. The resulting carbon nanoparticles were found to emit photoluminescence with a quantum yield of approximately 0.43%. Additionally, the emission band energy of the carbon nanoparticle was very similar to that of much smaller carbon nanoparticles obtained from candle soot, suggesting that the photoluminescence might arise from particle surface states, analogous to the behaviors of semiconductor quantum dots with an indirect bandgap. In electrochemical measurements, two pairs of well-defined voltammetric waves were observed, which might be ascribed to the peripheral functional moieties that were analogous to phenanthrenequinone derivatives. Interestingly, the carbon nanoparticles might also be exploited as nanoscale structural scaffolds for the deposition of nanostructures of varied transition metals, leading to the formation of metal−carbon functional nanocomposites.
Source: Chemistry of Materials
DOI: 10.1021/cm900709w
Authors: Lei Tian, Debraj Ghosh, Wei Chen, Sulolit Pradhan, Xijun Chang, Shaowei Chen
Institutions: University of California, Santa Cruz, Lanzhou University
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Division of Materials Research
OpenAlex ID: W1970779283