EFFICIENCY OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF MICROFIBERS INTO CARBON-BASED MATERIALS

The laboratories of the Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies already had a prototype HFCVD (Hot Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition; shown in the figure below) reactor for converting carbon compounds into sp2 (e.g., graphite) or sp3 (e.g., diamond) carbon-based materials. For this line of research, the system was modified and optimized to use synthetic textile fibres as precursors, rather than methane and hydrogen. Synthesis conditions (60 minutes and substrate pretreatment via stretching and etching) were identified that allow the synthesis of nanodiamonds, using polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and cotton fibres as carbon precursors.

pirolisi

Diagram of the transformation system based on thermal pyrolysis in the presence of H-reactive plasma.

Nanodiamonds (ND) are carbon crystals with a nanoscale structure (4-100 nm) composed of sp3 carbon atoms and an Fd3m (cubic diamond) crystal lattice. Thanks to their crystalline structure similar to that of bulk diamond, nanodiamonds inherit most of its properties: hardness, biocompatibility, high thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity, and chemical stability. Furthermore, thanks to their unique surface containing tuneable functional groups, they are the ideal platform for many applications, such as drug and gene delivery, imaging, sensing, and, last but not least, the preparation of nanocomposites. 

The results of this experiment are original and innovative, given that this is the first demonstration of the synthesis of sp3 carbon structures starting from textile fibres; in fact, to the authors' knowledge, no nanodiamond synthesis from polymeric carbon precursors has been reported to date.

 

THE RESEARCH TEAM

Silvia Orlanducci

Associate Professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry at Tor Vergata Rome University, Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies. Her research focuses primarily on the synthesis and characterization of carbon-based nanomaterials, such as nanodiamonds, nanotubes, and nanographites, as well as their chemical functionalization and coupling with metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles.

Massimo Longo

Tenure track researcher in Chemistry of Materials at Tor Vergata Rome University, Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies. His research activity is focused on techniques for the chemical synthesis of materials for optoelectronics, microelectronics, nanoelectronics and energy conversion, up to spintronics, including the synthesis of carbon-based nanomaterials. In the project he collaborate to the method set up for the nanodiamonds synthesis starting from textile fibers.