Carbon ion characterization in arc discharge plasma

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the energy of carbon ion in different environment and pressures. The purpose of determination the energy of carbon ion is to get better knowledge regarding on the fabrication of different type of carbon nanostructures. Carbon nanostructures become more useful due to their unique carbon elements. They can form ball-shaped, fullerenes and cylindrical nanotubes. The energy of carbon ion can be obtained by measuring the ion track sizes on the CR-39 target. Solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) was used to track the charged nuclear particles, such as alpha particles or fission fragments. In this study, arc discharge plasma generated by graphite electrode were chosen to produce carbon nanostructures and the CR-39 were exposed to energetic carbon ion under different environment and pressures. The energetic carbon ion was etched by 6.25 M of NaOH solution for 8 hours. The temperature was maintained at (72±1) °C to ensure the etching process going smoothly. The ion tracks was observed under optical microscope and the diameter of ion track were measured. The energy was determined from the diameter obtained by using the related formula. The energy of carbon ion is influenced by the diameter ion track. High values of carbon ions energy are observed in hydrogen ambient environment as compared to air ambient environment under same ambient pressures and the energy of carbon ions decrease with increase in the ambient pressure.