Nano Graphite Powder
Graphite powder is a black, finely-powdered form of carbon. It is an essential raw material in the production of many industrial products, including electrically and thermally conductive coatings and specialty lubricants. It also serves as a refractory and as a catalyst for the formation of single-walled carbon nanotubes.
It is one of the most popular materials for conductive paints due to its relatively inert, smooth, and conductive traits. It's a critical component in lithium-ion batteries, too, because of its conductive characteristics and inert nature.
As a carbon hybrid material, it's used in a variety of applications and is often combined with other nanomaterials to improve its performance. For example, a combination of graphene and silicon nanoparticles provides superior electrical conductivity in thin films for battery applications. It's also used as an additive to polymer compounds to enhance thermal stability, strength, and conductivity without otherwise compromising the other properties of the compound.
The most common use for carbon nanoparticles is as a catalyst for the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT). During this process, they are grown on a surface supported by transition metal compound such as CaCl2. A higher concentration of the CaCl2 catalyst leads to more SWNTs being formed, and it also causes the tubes to grow longer and have a better diameter.
Graphite nanoparticles also have a low BET surface area, which is beneficial for the corrosion resistance of PEM fuel cell catalysts. This enables them to withstand the oxidation of carbon during hydrogen-air reaction, and prevents the loss of performance that can occur with ordered mesoporous carbons (OMC). Ferreira-Aparicio et al. [204] demonstrated that electrospraying Gdots onto the cathode catalyst layer in PEM fuel cells reduces local water accumulation and mitigates degradation kinetics.
