• Stride, John Arron
• Paras, Christian
• Ellis, Thomas Keith

Abstract

We report the metal-catalyst-free production of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and nanobubbles, in a chemical reduction of hexachlorobenzene by metallic sodium, giving high yields (in excess of 80 ) and at temperatures as low as 190 degrees C for multiwalled carbon nanotubes and 100 degrees C for nanobubble formation. The carbon nanotube samples produced under solvothermal conditions were found to consist of large bundles of nanotubes (>50 mu m) consistent with a facial growth from the surface of the molten metal. Meanwhile, the nanobubbles produced under ambient pressure were found to be small (1 mu m), polydispersed (smallest similar to 50nm), and the bulk to have a large microporous area. With the regulatory complexities and high environmental and economic costs of remediating waste containing highly hazardous halogenated aromatic chemicals, necessitating high-temperature incineration under strictly controlled conditions, this low-temperature, low-cost chemical degradation of hexachlorobenzene is of great potential as a scalable and workable remediation technology.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• surface
• Carbon
• nanotube
• Sodium