title: Catalytic Graphitization of Coal-Based Carbon Materials with Light Rare Earth Elements.
abstract: The catalytic graphitization mechanism of coal-based carbon materials with light rare earth elements was investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, selected-area electron diffraction, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The interface between light rare earth elements and carbon materials was carefully observed, and two routes of rare earth elements catalyzing the carbon materials were found: dissolution-precipitation and carbide formation-decomposition. These two simultaneous processes certainly accelerate the catalytic graphitization of carbon materials, and light rare earth elements exert significant influence on the microstructure and thermal conductivity of graphite. Moreover, by virtue of praseodymium (Pr), it was found that a highly crystallographic orientation of graphite was induced and formed, which was reasonably attributed to the similar arrangements of the planes perpendicular to (001) in both graphite and Pr crystals. The interface between Pr and carbon was found to be an important factor for the orientation of graphite structure.
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resources and ‡State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Rongyan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resources and ‡State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guimin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resources and ‡State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenming
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resources and ‡State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu