The Influence of the Composition of a Water–Alcohol Solution on the Synthesis of Nanostructures Using a Steam-Water Electric Arc Plasma Torch

Nanostructured products synthesized using electric arc vapor plasma with various alcohol solutions exhibiting very high enthalpy and low mass flow rates in a direct current discharge in direct contact with a vapor vortex surrounding the arc column were studied. The nanostructured products obtained in our experiments with various alcohol solutions (ethanol, propanol, and benzene) were analyzed using modern nanostructure identification methods. The diameters of the synthesized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) ranged from 9 to 35 nm, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) from 2 to 4 nm, and graphene flakes from 1 to 7 sheets, depending on the alcohol solution composition. Fullerene-like structures identified by HRTEM were obtained from a benzene mixture using electric arc vapor plasma synthesis. It is shown that the thermal steam plasma process with various alcohol solutions has great potential for the synthesis of nanotubes and graphene flakes due to the continuous and easy-to-implement method, cheap raw materials and adjustable carbon content due to the combination of different mixture compositions.