Catalytic graphitization of hardwood acetic acid lignin with nickel acetate

Catalytic graphitization of hardwood acetic acid lignin (HAL) with nickel (II) acetate was investigated regarding the production of highly crystalline carbon. Fusibility, one of the unique characteristics of HAL, was preserved with nickel acetate additions up to 0.3% (as the weight of nickel), although the thermal mobility of HAL was depressed by the addition of nickel acetate. An obvious effect of nickel salt as a catalyst on the development of carbon crystallite from HAL was observed for more than 0.2% addition. The development was found to proceed above 850degreesC. All the resulting carbons had turbostratic structure, and the apparent crystallite size (L-c) was increased with increasing amounts of catalyst, as determined by X-ray diffraction. Thus, highly crystalline carbon was produced from HAL by catalytic graphitization without compromising the fusibility of HAL by adding a small amount of organic nickel salt.