Synthesis and comparison of different spinel ferrites and their catalytic activity during chemical vapor deposition of polymorphic nanocarbons

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is considered as a low-cost industrial technique for the mass production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which exhibit remarkable performance in various fields especially, in green technologies like, energy storage, green composites, solar cells etc. To optimize the yields, it is necessary to understand the role of different parameters affecting their production. In this research, the role of different spinel ferrites has been studied for the catalytic production of the CNTs with different morphologies (polymorphic nano carbons- PNCs) via CVD process. The characterization of the produced PNCs is done using X-ray diffraction, high-resolution Raman spectroscopy, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, and field emission-transmission electron microscopy. It is found that all the spinel ferrites behave differently during synthesis and produces different morphology of nanocarbons (tubes, fibers, beads etc.). Additionally, the thermal and magnetic properties of the produced PNCs are also compared through thermo-gravimetric analysis and vibrating sample magnetometer, respectively. It is found that all the samples show different thermal stability and weak ferromagnetic behavior.