Diverse crystal morphology of carbon microstructures deposited on Fe-sputtered silicon substrate via carbothermal reaction technique
Abstract
We developed a two-step method of synthesizing carbon microstructures in ambient pressure. A film of high-purity iron (Fe catalyst), with various thicknesses, was deposited on Si substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. Activated carbon powder was used as carbon source instead of hydrocarbon gas for deposition. Carbon deposition was carried out in a combustion furnace heated between 973K and 1123K in ambient atmosphere. The effect of reaction temperature to the deposition of carbon was studied. The use of thick Fe layer resulted to formation of uniform diamond like carbon (DLC) film, while thin Fe layer favored the formation of widely dispersed microstructures such as graphite crystallites, rods, cones and spheres.