Nano Express
Flame synthesis of carbon nanostructures on Ni-plated hardmetal substrates
1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
2 Analytical and Testing Center, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
3 Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Nanoscale Research Letters 2011, 6:331 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-6-331
Published: 13 April 2011Abstract
In this article, we demonstrate that carbon nanostructures could be synthesized on the Ni-plated YG6 (WC-6 wt% Co) hardmetal substrate by a simple ethanol diffusion flame method. The morphologies and microstructures of the Ni-plated layer and the carbon nanostructures were examined by various techniques including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. The growth mechanism of such carbon nanostructures is discussed. This work may provide a strategy to improve the performance of hardmetal products and thus to widen their potential applications.
