Heat treatment of multi-phase AC arc-discharge soot and formation of carbon encapsulated metal-carbide nanoparticles

Yamamoto, Kazunori; Shamoto, Shinichi  ; Matsuura, Tsugio*; Maki, Norio*; Sano, Hiroshi*

Nearly 20 years after their discovery, no real large-scale industrial application of carbon encapsulated metal nanoparticles (CEMNs) has yet started. Although CEMNs are very important compounds, they are still laboratory materials, and their very low yield was related to the formation of the cathode deposit in the arc plasma process. Today, one of the other promising techniques producing CEMNs is heat treatment (1000 - 2200 C) of AC arc metal/carbon soot. In our new AC arc method, formation of deposit also leads to low yield of the CEMNs formation. We have tested how phase number (2 to 12) reflect to the yield of metal/carbon soot in our multi-phase AC arc discharge experiments. We have concluded that almost 100% yield of the soot was achieved for 6 to 12 phase.