Conductive Carbon Nanoparticle from Candle Soot: Waste to Wealth
摘要
The incomplete combustion of organic materials produces carbonaceous particles forming soot, a black colour residue, from the plume. Soot contains volatile organic compounds and is carried aloft by hot gases. Collecting soot particles is beneficial to reduce greenhouse gases. When soot particles are treated with different mechanisms, they can be applicable to energy generation, carbon capture, and synthesis of innovative materials. Treating soot can induce desirable properties like hydrophobic and hydrophilic, energy storage and porosity. Candles are used in households and can produce soot. Candle soot nanoparticles (CNP) are prepared by collecting soot from the tip flame zone with a steel tray collector and treating the collected soot with IPA and centrifuging the mix at 18,000 rpm thereafter rinsing the excess IPA and oven drying the residue for two hours. CNP obtained are characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. FE-SEM indicates soot has a smaller size and spherical shape of the particle. Surface stability and carbon composition are improved for CNP. XRD analysis of candle soot, as well as CNP, shows a wider peak at 24°, indicating a high degree of graphitization, less disorderedness, sp2 phase, small crystalline size, and the presence of fewer impurities. From Raman spectroscopy, the ratio of the intensity of distortion and graphitic band (ID/IG) value is found more for soot as compared to CNP. The suggested method is proved to be a potential mechanism for preparing conductive CNP from candle soot.