title: Influence of the Synthetic Conditions on the Structural and Electrochemical Properties of Carbon Nano-Onions.
abstract: Thermal annealing of nanodiamonds with diameters of a few nanometers (in an inert atmosphere and at temperatures in the range: 1500-1800 °C) leads to the formation of carbon nano-onions (CNOs) with diameters between 5 and 6 nm, which correspond to nanostructures with six to eight graphitic layers. The resulting spherical CNO structures were thermally modified under different atmospheres and characterized by SEM, TEM, thermogravimetric analysis and spectroscopic (Raman and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform/FTIR) spectroscopy. The electrochemical properties of the CNOs prepared under different conditions were determined and compared. The results reveal that the CNOs show different structures with predominant spherical "small" carbon nano-onions. The aim of this article is to investigate the impact of the CNO's synthesis conditions on the resulting structures and study the effect of further thermal modifications on the sizes, shapes and homogeneity of these carbon nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, Hurtowa 1, 15-399 Bialystok (Poland).
authors.forename: Olena
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mykhailiv
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Smoluchowskiego 17, 60-179 Poznan (Poland).
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lapinski
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 7996 (USA).
authors.forename: Agustin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molina-Ontoria
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, Hurtowa 1, 15-399 Bialystok (Poland).
authors.forename: Elzbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Regulska
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 7996 (USA). echegoyen@utep.edu.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Echegoyen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, Hurtowa 1, 15-399 Bialystok (Poland).
authors.forename: Alina T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Dubis
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, University of Bialystok, Hurtowa 1, 15-399 Bialystok (Poland). mplonska@uwb.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Marta E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Plonska-Brzezinska
keywords: capacitance; carbon nano-onions; electrochemistry; spectroscopy; structure