Synthesis of high purity chain-like carbon nanospheres in ultrahigh yield, and their microwave absorption properties

Abstract

Over Fe/SnO₂ nanoparticles generated by a combined sol–gel/reduction method, high purity chain-like carbon nanospheres (CNSs) could be synthesized in large quantities through the catalytic decomposition of acetylene at 700 °C. The effect of SnO₂ content on the yield, microstructure and microwave absorbing properties of the obtained CNSs were studied in detail. The results demonstrate that the content of SnO₂ has a great impact on the yield and dimensions of the obtained CNSs, and an ultrahigh yield of 309 was reported. Moreover, the smaller size of chain-like CNSs, which can be obtained over the catalysts with higher SnO₂ content, exhibit enhanced microwave absorption properties due to their better complementarities between the dielectric and magnetic tangent loss. Based on the results, we also discuss the possible formation mechanism of CNSs. Therefore, we propose a simple and environmentally-friendly route for the mass production of chain-like CNSs with high purity, and the as-synthesized chain-like CNSs exhibit good microwave absorbing abilities.