Novel and economic method of carbon nanotubes synthesis on a nickel magnesium oxide catalyst using microwave radiation

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are gaining increased importance in many fields of science and technology due to their unique properties of greater surface area, mechanical strength, electrical and thermal conductivity. A novel method of carbon nanotubes synthesis on a nickel magnesium oxide catalyst using microwave radiation was developed and presented. In the present paper, the possibility of modifying a Ni-MgO catalyst, for carbon nanotube synthesis with microwave radiation (0.8 kW and 2.45 GHz) at the production stage, is studied. The effect of this radiation on the catalyst characteristics (specific surface area, catalytic activity, etc.) is experimentally considered. It is shown that the use of short term exposure to the microwave radiation in preparing the catalyst made it possible to increase its specific surface area from 5.2 to 9.1 m²/g. The implementation of chemical vapor deposition of the catalyst, modified with the microwave radiation for 30 s, contributed to an increase in the yield of a nanostructured material by 40–45%; making carbon nanotubes inexpensive in production. The synthesized carbon nanostructured material predominantly represented multilayered nanotubes with a diameter of 10–40 nm. The developed method was capable to produce 40–45% yield with almost two time's greater surface area. The synthesized carbon nanotubes may be used for various purposes including water treatment due to the economy in production and large surface area.