Preparation of highly crystalline carbon nanofibers from pitch/polymer blend

High crystalline carbon nanofibers were prepared by using polymer blend technique. Naphthalene-based mesophase pitch (AR pitch) was dispersed finely in polymethylpentene matrix, spun by using a melt-blown spinning machine, stabilized at 160 degrees C in an oxygen atmosphere and carbonized at 900 degrees C in a nitrogen atmosphere. Bundles of the carbon nanofibers with ca. 100 nm in diameter were obtained after removal of polymethylpentene at the carbonization process. No impurity carbon was observed. The carbon nanofibers consisted of fine carbon crystallites with preferred orientation along the fiber axis. After heating to 3000 degrees C, the carbon crystallites grew drastically to have an interlayer spacing of 0.3367 nm and a crystallite thickness of 56.9 nm, respectively, with remarkable improvement of the preferred orientation of the crystallites. Advantages and disadvantages of the present method were discussed briefly. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.