Room-Temperature Fabrication and Applications of Ion-Induced Carbon Nanofibers

Abstract

Nanocarbon, such as carbon nanofibers (CNTs), carbon nanotubes (CNFs) and graphene, is one of the hottest materials in materials science and nanotechnology fields. They are usually synthesized from gas phase at elevated temperatures, so the synthesis is the high temperature process. By contrast, using low energy (at and below keV range) ion beam technique, CNFs of 10∼30nm in diameter and 1∼2μm in length can be grown on any carbon coated substrates without any catalyst and heating. In this report, the morphological feature, formation mechanism and the growth control of the ion-induced CNFs were dealt with. In addition, their applications to probes for atomic force microscopy and transparent flexible displays were proposed. Also, in situ observation of transmission electron microscopy on CNT and graphene formation from ion induced CNFs by solid phase reaction were demonstrated.