4.6 Molten Salt Conversion of CO 2 into Li 2 CO 3 Nanocrystals . . . . . . 54
4.7 Encapsulation of Li 2 CO 3 Nanocrystals in Carbon Layers . . . . . . . 56
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5 Mechanisms Involved in the Electrolytic Fabrication of Carbon
Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.1 Electrochemical Erosion of Graphite Under Nominally Dry Ar . . . 61
5.2 Thermokinetic Characteristics of LiCl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.3 Electrochemical Erosion of Graphite Under Humid Ar . . . . . . . . . 67
5.4 Electrochemical Erosion of Graphite Under HydrogenContaining Atmospheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.5 Molten Salt Formation of Metal-Filled Carbon Nanostructures . . . 71
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6 Applications of Carbon Nanostructures Produced in Molten
Salts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.1 SnO 2 -Graphene Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.2 Metal–Carbon Nanocomposites as Anode Materials for Li-Ion
Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.2.1 Sn-Filled Carbon Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.2.2 Graphene-Wrapped Si Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.3 Supercapacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.4 Ceramic-Based Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.5 Adsorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.5.1 Adsorption Performance of the Molten Salt-Produced
3D Graphene Nanosheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.5.2 The Effect of pH on the Adsorption Capacity . . . . . . . . . . 98
6.5.3 Reusability and Stability of 3D Graphene Nanosheets . . . . 99
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7 Molten Salt Conversion of Plastics into Highly Conductive Carbon
Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
7.1 Structural Characterization of PET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
7.2 Carbonization of PET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
7.3 Conversion of PET into Carbonaceous Nanomaterials . . . . . . . . . . 116
7.4 Molten Salt-Assisted Conversion of PET into Carbon
Nanomaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.4.1 Molten Salt Heat Treatment of PET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.5 Electrical and Electrochemical Characterization of
Nanostructured Carbon Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.6 Molten Salt Graphitization of Amorphous Carbons . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
viii
Contents
4.7 Encapsulation of Li 2 CO 3 Nanocrystals in Carbon Layers . . . . . . . 56
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5 Mechanisms Involved in the Electrolytic Fabrication of Carbon
Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.1 Electrochemical Erosion of Graphite Under Nominally Dry Ar . . . 61
5.2 Thermokinetic Characteristics of LiCl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.3 Electrochemical Erosion of Graphite Under Humid Ar . . . . . . . . . 67
5.4 Electrochemical Erosion of Graphite Under HydrogenContaining Atmospheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.5 Molten Salt Formation of Metal-Filled Carbon Nanostructures . . . 71
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6 Applications of Carbon Nanostructures Produced in Molten
Salts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.1 SnO 2 -Graphene Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.2 Metal–Carbon Nanocomposites as Anode Materials for Li-Ion
Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.2.1 Sn-Filled Carbon Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.2.2 Graphene-Wrapped Si Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.3 Supercapacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.4 Ceramic-Based Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.5 Adsorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.5.1 Adsorption Performance of the Molten Salt-Produced
3D Graphene Nanosheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.5.2 The Effect of pH on the Adsorption Capacity . . . . . . . . . . 98
6.5.3 Reusability and Stability of 3D Graphene Nanosheets . . . . 99
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7 Molten Salt Conversion of Plastics into Highly Conductive Carbon
Nanostructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
7.1 Structural Characterization of PET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
7.2 Carbonization of PET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
7.3 Conversion of PET into Carbonaceous Nanomaterials . . . . . . . . . . 116
7.4 Molten Salt-Assisted Conversion of PET into Carbon
Nanomaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.4.1 Molten Salt Heat Treatment of PET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.5 Electrical and Electrochemical Characterization of
Nanostructured Carbon Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.6 Molten Salt Graphitization of Amorphous Carbons . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
viii
Contents
