A comparative study of arc discharge and chemical vapor deposition synthesized carbon nanotubes

A comparative study on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) synthesized by arc discharge and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques have been performed to use CNTs as an application for hydrogen storage. Synthesized CNTs have been characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. X-ray diffraction confirms the structure and diameter distribution of CNTs. It is observed from Raman spectroscopy that D-band (1345 cm−1) for CNTs synthesized by arc discharge is broad, while CNTs synthesized by CVD it is almost negligible due to nested layers of carbon. The G band (1707 cm−1) in CVD synthesized CNTs is sharp than the CNTs synthesized by arc discharge. FT-IR spectroscopy confirms the stretching of bonds (CC) due to disordering of CNTs. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM) it is observed that CNTs obtained by arc discharge are agglomerated carbon blobs and almost amorphous type carbon, while CNTs obtained by CVD shows bundles of nanotubes.