Preparation of carbon nanotubes with iron nanowires inside using a simple microwave-based method

The importance of synthesizing carbon nanotubes with iron nanowires inside (Fe-MWNTs) via microwave radiation lies in the fact that it allows to improve aspects such as selective and uniform heating of the sample, reduction of the time of synthesis, avoiding complex experimental procedures and lowering the cost of production. In this paper we synthesize and characterize carbon nanotubes with iron nanowires inside using a mixture of graphite and iron acetate powders as starting materials and a 900 W domestic microwave oven used as power source. A mixture of the starting materials inside a vacuum sealed quartz ampoule was subjected to radiation for 7 min. As a result straight Fe nanowires are obtained with lengths between 5 and 15 microns, and a wide variety of partially Fe filled nanotubes with diameters in the 30-80 nm range. Samples were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy.