Direct Preparation of Hydrogen and Carbon Nanotubes by Microwave Plasma Decomposition of Methane over Fe/Si Activated by Biased Hydrogen Plasma

Katsuya Konno, Kaoru Onoe, Yasuyuki Takiguchi, Tatsuaki Yamaguchi

Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, Japan.
Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd., Automotive Systems R&D Laboratory, Kawasaki, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/gsc.2013.31004                

Abstract

Methane was decomposed to hydrogen and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by microwave plasma, using Fe/Si catalyst activated by biased (—150 V) hydrogen plasma for various treatment times. Upon exposure to biased hydrogen plasma, the catalyst surface becomes lumpy within 1 min, coheres between 5 and 10 min and forms particles after 20 min. The methane conversion increased up to 93% over the treatment time of 5 min. The hydrogen yield showed as similar tendency as the methane conversion and kept 83% at treatment time of 5 min. The treatment time up to 1 min increased the amount of deposited carbon, and after treatment time of 5 min it dropped; then again after treatment time of 20 min, it increased to reach a maximum value of 22 g_c/g_cat. Deposited carbon was found to be consisted of carbon nanotubes. It grew vertically on the catalyst surface and reached a maximum length of 30.7 nm after treatment time of 10 min. Multiple types of CNTs were present, and the CNT diameters decreased with increasing plasma treatment time.

Keywords

Hydrogen; Methane Decomposition; Carbon Nanotubes; Microwave Plasma; Methane; H2 Plasma Treatment

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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