Influence of Pulse Condition in the Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes Containing Tungsten by Arc Discharge in Water

Abstract

We studied the one-step synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) containing metal by arc discharge in water, a technique by which we can synthesize CNTs using a simple device. In this study, we attempted to improve the rate of tungsten (W) inclusion by applying a pulsed arc discharge. By this technique, we found that the quantity of CNTs containing W increased compared with the results of using DC arc discharge. Furthermore, after investigating the effect of the correlation between pulse width and duty cycle on the rate of formation of CNTs containing W, it was determined that the maximum rate (30%) was achieved when the pulse width was 5 ms and the duty cycle was 50%.