Please cite this article in press as: N. Cherkasov, et al., Template synthesis and characterization of carbon nanomaterials from ferrocene crystals, Appl. Surf. Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.04.181 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model APSUSC-27781; No. of Pages 8 Applied Surface Science xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Surface Science jou rn al h om ep age: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc Template synthesis and characterization of carbon nanomaterials from ferrocene crystals Nikolay Cherkasov a,∗,1 , Serguei V. Savilov b , Anton S. Ivanov b , Alex V. Egorov b , Valery V. Lunin b , Alex O. Ibhadon c a Lomonosov Moscow State University, Department of Chemistry, 119991, Moscow, Russia b Lomonosov Moscow State University, Department of Chemistry, 119991, Moscow, Russia c School of Biological, Biomedical and Environmental Sciences & Department of Chemistry, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 11 March 2014 Received in revised form 26 April 2014 Accepted 27 April 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Ribbons Nanomaterials Chemical vapor deposition Carbon nanotubes Ferrocene a b s t r a c t Filamentous ribbon-like structures of highly disordered carbon of thickness 10–100 nm built from merged individual carbon nanofibers were synthesised by chemical vapour deposition from saturated ferrocene–benzene solution at 950 K. The materials obtained were characterized by electron microscopy, x-ray and electron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and a possible growth mechanism for their forma- tion was proposed and discussed. The synthesis demonstrates the possibility of a template growth of carbon nanomaterials and supports the vapour–solid–solid growth model of carbon materials because the catalysing metal particles are solid under the experimental conditions. Due to the large number of structural defects, filamentous structure, submicrometer thickness and low intraparticle diffusion of the nanomaterials, they can find application in catalysis as catalyst supports and sorbents. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Carbon forms many allotropes that differ in properties depend- ing on their crystalline structure. For example, graphite is a very soft and electro-conductive while diamond is an excellent insulator and one of the hardest materials. The range of allotropes with promis- ing physical and chemical properties is wide with the most well known allotropes being fullerenes [1–3], carbon nanotubes [4–7] and graphene [8–11]. But there are many other allotropes such as coiled nanotubes and nanofibers [12–14], nanocones [15,16], thoroidal structures [17,18], etc. In order to utilize the properties of carbon allotropes in practical applications, a cheap and efficient way for their synthesis is required. In this work, we report a novel method for the synthesis of ribbon-line carbon materials. Carbon ribbons are filamentous strips of highly disordered car- bon with thickness of 10–100 nm built from merged individual ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 79160585847/74959393321; fax: +44 74959393321. E-mail address: zdx@gmx.com (N. Cherkasov). 1 Present address: School of Biological, Biomedical and Environmental Sciences & Department of Chemistry, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom. carbon nanofibers. They are different from ribbons that consist of separate CNTs [19] or graphene nanoribbons which are less than 1 nm in thickness [20–22]. Due to their highly defective structure (large amount of voids), the surface can be chemically modified [23,24], thus opening the way for their application as catalysts [25,26], supports for grafted catalysts or sorbents [27,28]. The filamentous structure with a large number of defects is very con- venient for catalyst support materials, because it provides low internal mass transfer limitations and high heat conductivity which is important for exothermic reactions [29]. The synthesis method employs saturated benzene–ferrocene solutions, where the needle-shaped ferrocene crystals are formed and introduced into a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) reac- tor in an aerosol with a flow of gas. The method is scalable, does not require laborious catalyst fabrication and it does not use sulphur compounds or carbon monoxide that were used in previous studies [30–32]. Depending on the tempera- ture, carbon nanofibers, carbon ribbons or multiwalled carbon nanotubes may be produced, possibly, due to the competition between ferrocene sublimation and decomposition. At 950 K, the needle-like shape of ferrocene crystals is retained during the decomposition, which demonstrates the possibility of template for- mation of carbon structures during aerosol-based chemical vapour deposition (CVD). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.04.181 0169-4332/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.