Carbon nanotubes produced from rubber fruit shell activated carbon

Abstract

This study used rubber fruit shells (RFS) as raw material for making carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The CNTs were carried out by hydrothermal process at low-temperature after carbonization and chemical activation was done. This experiment succeeded in obtaining a bundle of MWCNT (Multi-Wall Nanotube) from the raw material of RFS. The results of characterization using SEM and TEM showed that the resulting CNTs were not homogeneous in diameter, ranging from 13 to 455 nm, with an average diameter of about 179 nm. XRD was used to identify crystallographic structure; it has two peaks 2[Formula: see text] at around 26.0 and 44.0, index to 002 and 101 reflections hexagonal graphite diffraction of the MWCNTs. This study can provide an alternative inexpensive raw material and a simple method to obtain carbon nanotubes.