Fabrication of uniform au-carbon nanofiber by two-step low temperature decomposition

Abstract

This paper presents a facile and efficient way to prepare carbon nanofibers ornamented with Au nanoparticles (Au/CNFs). Gold nanoparticles were first deposited in the channels of an anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane by thermal decomposition of HAuCl4and then carbon nanofibers were produced in the same channels loaded with the Au nanoparticles by decomposition of sucrose at 230 °C. An electron microscopy study revealed that the carbon nanofibers, ~10 nm thick and 6 μm long, were decorated with Au nanoparticles with a diameter of 10 nm. This synthetic route can produce uniform Au nanoparticles on CNF surfaces without using any additional chemicals to modify the AAO channels or the CNF surfaces.

Keywords: AAO; Au; Carbon; Nanofibers; Nanoparticles.

Figure 1

XRD patterns of (a) carbonized sucrose in Au nanoparticles embedded AAO (Au/C–AAO) and (b) carbonized sucrose in anodized aluminum oxide(C–AAO) template. Insets are optical images of bare AAO, Au–AAO, and Au/C–AAO membrane (from left to right)

Figure 2

XPS spectra ofaAu embedded AAO andbcarbonized sucrose in Au embedded AAO. Peaks were calibrated against the binding energy of C 1s(285.0 eV)

Figure 3

aTEM image of carbon nanotubes prepared in anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template andbTEM image of free standing carbon nanotubes ornamented with Au nanoparticles. The inset is SEM image of carbon nanotubes in Au embedded AAO (Au/C–AAO) template. The Au/C–AAO was crashed to expose the edge

Figure 4

TEM images ofaAu ornamented carbon nanofibers,bmagnified image of the circled section ona, andcother area of the same TEM grid.dThe histograms of particle size distribution ofb. The inset inais a SAED pattern of an Au nanoparticle

Figure 5

Schematic diagram of the two-step preparation method. The preloaded Au nanoparticles act like knife blade during decomposition of sucrose and result carbon nanofibers. TEM image is low magnified free standing Au/C nanofibers