Effect of catalyst supports in the synthesis of graphite nanostructures

It is well established that the structural characteristics of graphite nanofibers can be controlled by several factors including, the chemical nature of the catalyst, the composition of the reactant gas mixture and temperature at which the growth process is performed. In the current investigation we have endeavored to modify the behavior of the catalyst by dispersing the active metals on different support media. We have found that the strength of the metal-support interaction exerts a significant impact not only on the average size of the nanofibers generated by such a procedure, but also results in major changes in the architecture of the carbon materials. The support imposes certain geometrical constraints on the metal particles and these features sire manifested in modifications in the degree of crystalline perfection and arrangement of the graphite sheets constituting the nanofibers. In addition, there is also the possibility that the support can induce electronic perturbations in the metal particles, a feature that will be most pronounced with a conductive carrier.