Synthesis, Structure, Growth Mechanism, and Physical Properties of Transition Metal Sulfide Nanowire Filled Carbon Nanotubes and Carbon Nanoparticles

Authors

Yuba R. Poudel, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Physics

First Advisor's Name

Wenzhi Li

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Xuewen Wang

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Hebin Li

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Chunlei Wang

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fifth Advisor's Name

Zhe Cheng

Fifth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

carbon nanotubes, filled carbon nanotubes, metal sulfide nanowires, Ni3S2, carbon nanoparticles

Date of Defense

6-28-2022

Abstract

Filled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit unique physical properties due to the synergistic effects between the host CNTs and guest fillers making them attractive for several applications such as energy storage, microwave absorption, sensing applications, and drug delivery, etc. To date, a heterogeneity of inorganic and organic materials has been successfully filled inside the CNT cores and enormous effort has been spent on studying their fundamental electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, optical, and electrochemical properties. However, the filling of CNTs with transition metal sulfide nanowires has been barely achieved and thus their fundamental properties are still unclear.

In this study, nickel sulfide nanowires filled CNTs (Ni₃S₂@CNTs) were synthesized on different substrates using an in situ chemical vapor deposition method and the samples were characterized by standard techniques such as SEM, TEM, EDX, XRD, FT-IR, TGA, UV-Vis, Raman spectroscopy, etc. The electron microscopy measurements reveal that CNTs are filled with continuous, single-crystalline Ni₃S₂ nanowires several micrometers long whereas an exceptionally low ratio between the intensities of the D band and G band (I_D/I_G= 0.26) in the Raman spectrum suggests an ultra-high quality of CNTs. The intrinsic electrical properties of individual Ni₃S₂@CNTs were studied using two probe and four-point probe methods and a mean resistivity of 6.1×10^-5 Ωm was measured.

In another study, fluorescent carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) were synthesized using a novel electrochemical method by the oxidation of carbon cloth. CNPs produced by the pulse applied potential exhibited a high fluorescence along with high stability in both optical emission and absorption properties. An electrochemical method was developed to conjugate CNPs with Ni₃S₂@CNTs and the electrochemical properties of the composite were studied during the electrocatalysis of water. It was found that CNPs can significantly decrease the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential from 1.15 V to 0.57 V with a corresponding current density of 5 mAcm^-2 after conjugating with Ni₃S₂@CNTs. Also, the electrochemical properties of Ni₃S₂@CNTs were studied using them as anode material for lithium-ion batteries and the preliminary results show that Ni₃S₂@CNTs synthesized on nickel foam can deliver a capacity of about 1000 mAhg^-1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 100 mAg^-1.

Identifier

FIDC010751

ORCID

0000-0003-3120-5546

Previously Published In

Poudel, Y. R., and Li, W. (2018). Synthesis, properties, and applications of carbon nanotubes filled with foreign materials: a review. Materials Today Physics, 7:7-34.

Poudel, Y.R., Zhao, X., Jungjohann, K. L., Thapa, A., Guo, R., Li, W. (2022). Ni₃S₂ nanowires filled carbon nanotubes of ultra-high quality: Synthesis methods, structure, and electrical properties. Diamond and Related Materials, 127:109156.

Li, W., and Poudel, Y. R., (2022). Filled carbon nanotubes and methods of synthesizing the same, US11296319B1. https://patents.google.com/patent/US11296319B1/en

Li, W., and Poudel, Y.R., (2021). Metal sulfide filled carbon nanotubes and synthesis methods thereof, US20210324537A1. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210324537A1/en

Recommended Citation

Poudel, Yuba R., "Synthesis, Structure, Growth Mechanism, and Physical Properties of Transition Metal Sulfide Nanowire Filled Carbon Nanotubes and Carbon Nanoparticles" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5049.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5049