Green production of carbon nanomaterials in molten salts and applications

The 200 years documented history of molten salt science and technology has been full of surprises, some of which brought revolutionary changes to our world. Here, a brief history of these discoveries is provided. Carbon materials, and especially the crystalline graphite, have undoubtedly played an important role in the development of molten salt-based technologies, particularly in the electrolytic production of metals as well as the construction of molten salt nuclear reactors. In these applications, carbon is a desirable material due to its moderate electrical conductivity and relatively chemical and physical stability in high-temperature molten salts. More recently, interactions between molten salts with carbonaceous materials become more interesting, since these phenomena may lead to the low cost and highly efficient fabrication advanced carbon nanostructures, including carbon nanotubes, graphene, and nanodiamonds.