Catalytic growth of carbon nanofibers on Cr nanoparticles on a carbon substrate: adsorbents for organic dyes in water

• Published in: Journal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology Vol. 15; no. 5; p. 1
• Main Authors: de Oliveira, Luiz Carlos Alves, da Silva, Adilson Cândido, Machado, Alan Rodrigues Teixeira, Diniz, Renata, Pereira, Márcio César
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.05.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Brief Communication; Carbon; Catalytic methods; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chromium; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Dyes; Exact sciences and technology; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; Inorganic Chemistry; Lasers; Materials Science; Methods of nanofabrication; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoparticles; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanotechnology; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Quantum wires; Specific materials; X-ray diffraction; Leather waste; Chromium; Carbon nanofibers; Adsorption; Chromium carbide; Catalysts; Organic dye; Nanofiber; XRD; Raman spectroscopy; Carbon; Precursor; Organic adsorbent; Nanoparticles; Transmission electron microscopy; Graphite; Growth mechanism; Arrays; Nanostructured materials
• ISSN: 1388-0764; 1572-896X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11051-013-1631-4

We have produced carbon nanofibers (CNFs) using leather waste that had been tanned with a chromium bath, and when dried contained Cr 2 O 3 . Suitable reduction processing produced a carbon substrate with supported nanoparticles of chromium metal. Powder X-ray diffraction showed that the Cr 2 O 3 is reduced on the carbon surface to produce CrC and metal Cr, which is the effective catalyst for the CNFs growth. The CNF arrays were confirmed by TEM images. Raman data revealed that the synthesized CNFs have a poor-quality graphite structure which favors their use in adsorption processes. These CNFs presented higher affinity to adsorb anionic dyes, whereas the cationic dyes are better adsorbed on the carbon substrate. The low-cost and availability of the carbon precursor makes their potential use to produce CNFs of interest.