Abstract
In this entry an arc plasma torch having a long service life is described. Its water-cooled copper electrodes are coated with a film of a nanostructured carbon material. Electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, instrumental studies of the electrode coating, showed that it consisted of the composite nanosized carbon material, including largely single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and other carbon forms with a certain amount of copper atoms intercalated in the carbon matrix. The results of experiments on the pyrolysis of hydrocarbon gases in electric arc discharge between copper electrodes and the results of computer simulation by the method of molecular orbitals have been presented. The complex studies of the plasmachemical method of CNTs’ formation from carbon vapor showed the feasibility of growing CNTs on copper nanoparticles, which can be promoters for the reaction of the formation of hexagonal structures similar to CNTs.