Low-temperature fabrication of carbon nanofibers by self-assembling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules

Abstract

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with diameter ∼66 nm have been synthesized from coronene by low-temperature (∼45 °C) vacuum sublimation without the aid of a catalyst. Our method makes use of the property of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, which can self-assemble into columnar aggregates. This polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-carbon nanofibers (PAH-CNFs) reveal much better thermal stability than commercial carbon nanotubes and exhibit field-emission characteristics with the onset of an electric field of 5.4 V/μm and field enhancement factor of 1326 cm−1 for 100 μm interelectrode distance. The relative high thermal stability and easier process open up a possibility to fabricate large-scale field-emission devices in an efficient way and to provide a broad range of applications in nanoscience and technology.

Controlling vertical alignment of phthalocyanine nanofibers on transparent graphene-coated ITO electrodes for organic field emitters

“…43,44 Similar to the vertical alignment of H 2 Pc nanofibers on Ag surfaces, weakly interacting rGO surfaces can be obtained upon increasing the value of T sub , as a result of decreasing the surface energy; 31 accordingly, weak molecule-substrate interactions allow relatively high degrees of molecular desorption and diffusion, ultimately causing molecule-molecule (i.e., p-p and van der Waals) interactions to become dominant contributors to the H 2 Pc nanofiber formation. 45 Because molecular stacking occurs mainly through molecule-molecule interactions when nonpolar molecules (e.g., perylene, 46 coronene, 47 and MPcs 25,26 ) form 1D nanofibers, we suspect that both face-to-face (p stacking) and edge-to-edge (van der Waals interactions) intermolecular forces are major contributors during the 1D self-assembly of the stacking planar H 2 Pc molecules. 45 By balancing these crucial properties, we also explored the ability of various small organic molecules (CuPc, coronene and DAAQ) to aggregate into well-aligned 1D nanostructures on rGO surfaces (see Fig.…”

Coronene Fusion by Heat Treatment: Road to Nanographenes

“…Graphitization of coronene was recently used for synthesis of carbon nanofibers. 28 Here we present results of a detailed study of coronene annealing at various temperatures which provides evidence for the formation of larger PAH molecules, potentially leading to graphene synthesis.…”

Electrical Properties and Photoconductivity of Stacked‐Graphene Carbon Nanotubes

“…In the quasi one‐dimensional CNTs, the graphene layer is oriented along the tube axis, and the relative orientation of the honeycomb lattice (i.e., chirality) governs the CNT properties. By contrast, CNFs are comprised of an arrangement of graphitic layers or crystals, which varies with the synthesis procedure, including amorphous and semi‐crystalline CNFs,2–6 whose properties may notably differ. Among the many CNF preparation routes, special attention has been devoted to catalytic plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE‐CVD).…”