Morphology and structure characteristics of nanoscale carbon materials containing graphene

A comprehensive study of the nanostructured powders (graphite GSM-2; Taunit-M; thermally expanded graphite (TEG)) by methods of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), Raman spectroscopy, was carried out. The experimental XRD halo was interpreted by superimposing theoretical diffraction maxima, and an X-ray amorphous graphite phase was revealed. It was found that the X-ray amorphous phase is characterized by the limiting degree of graphite nanostructuring. From the width of the diffraction rings, the maximum sizes of graphite nanocrystals were estimated, which do not exceed 5 and 10 nm in the [0001] and [ ] directions, respectively. Carbon nanotubes and plates of turbostratic graphene were revealed. The structural and morphological parameters of the nanostructured material “Taunit-M” have been established – multi-walled nanotubes with a diameter of up to 10 nm are combined through an interlayer of X-ray amorphous carbon into flat ribbons up to 40 nm wide. Dark-field TEM images (in reflections of ) revealed moiré patterns that appear on overlapping graphene sheets due to double diffraction of the electron beam. It was found that in thermally expanded graphite, the rotation of graphene sheets ranges from 3 to 4°. Within the graphene sheets, complete dislocations with the Burgers vector b = 1/2 were revealed [1010]. The Fourier analysis of moiré images made it possible to determine the mutual orientation of graphene sheets, to reveal regions of multilayer graphene, and to identify turbostratic graphene. It is shown that the combination of RHEED, TEM, and Fourier transformations of periodic contrast of electron microscopic images is a promising approach to the analysis of the substructure and morphology of nanoscale carbon materials containing graphene and other allotropic modifications of carbon.