Structural Characteristics of Commercially Available and Self Synthesized Carbon Nanomaterials

Abstract

The element carbon has been used as a source of energy for the past few hundred years, and now in this era of technology, carbon has played a significant and very prominent role in almost all fields of science and technology. The interesting characteristic of carbon is its ability to form many allotropes due to its valency. In recent decades, various allotropes and forms of carbon have been invented, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and graphene. So as an honor to this marvelous element, we humans should know about its various forms of existence. In this present work, we shed light on structural studies of commercially available and self-synthesized carbon nanoparticles. A brief introduction is given to the types, structures, and shapes of the allotropes of carbon for a better understanding. The crystallographic structure of the carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) is investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) peak profile analysis. The microstructure is characterized based on crystallite size, interplanar spacing, density, strain, and dislocation density. Raman spectroscopy is particularly well studied to characterize the molecular morphology of CNMs.