Ultrafast catalytic synthesis of carbon nanofibers on a surface of commercial chlorinated polymers under the action of a high power ion beam of nanosecond duration.

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have been rapidly synthesized on the surface of low-cost commercial chlorinated polymers (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl chloride), which contains iron compounds, under the action of a high power ion beam at room temperature. Organic (Fe(C 5 H 5 ) 2 ) and inorganic (FeCl 3 ⋅6H 2 O и Fe(NO 3 ) 3 ·9H 2 O) iron compounds were used as catalytic additions. SEM, TEM and Raman spectroscopy were used to investigate the morphologies and structure of irradiated polymers. CNFs had a most probable diameter in the range 50–90 nm and a maximum length of up to 10 μm. The maximum CNFs growth rate was estimated as 160 μm/μs. A possible growth mechanism for CNFs is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]