Synthesis of carbon nanostructures using microwave enhanced chemical vapor deposition and its potential application to ammonia sensing

In this paper, Carbon Nanostructures (CNS) were directly synthesized on gallium orthophosphate (GaPO4). An alternative microwave enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MECVD) technique was used to synthesized the CNS via commercial microwave oven with operating power of 600 W at 2.45 GHz. Microwave heating provides the temperature for catalytic decomposition of polyethylene at 750 °C for 4 minutes under atmospheric pressure of 0.81 mbar. Characterization of the as-grown CNS was carried out using Raman spectroscopy and Field Emission Scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Raman spectroscopic investigation reveals the CNS quality of 0.92 and the field emission Scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis shows twisted hollow-like CNS structures. The material was deployed as a sensor without any post treatment so as to investigate its potential application in the sensor industry. Different concentrations of ammonia (NH3) gas from 0.06% to 1% were exposed.