Conformation and microstructure of carbon nanofibers deposited on foam Ni

Bundles of pure carbon nanofibers were prepared by catalytic decomposition of acetylene on foam Ni. The morphological and structural characteristics of the carbon nanostructures, in the as-prepared state, were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HTEM). A special conformation of carbon nanofibers composed of segmented structures was found among the products by both SEM and TEM observations. Further HTEM examination indicated that the segments were stacked with well ordered graphite platelets arranged perpendicular to the axis of the filaments. Project supported by NSFC(Grant Nos 107202 n 19920 and 59872030)