Synthesis and characterization of C-Ag composite nanomaterials for battery electrode applications

HVPC was used to fabricate carbon and silver nanomaterials for battery electrode application. The raw materials used in the study were bulk powder of carbon and silver and a solid 2.5 inch carbon rod. The materials’ purity are 99.94%, 98.73%, and 98.41% respectively. These raw materials were prepared in various ratio of silver and carbon powder and two kinds of carbon rod. U-rods refers to carbon rods that were not subjected to flame annealing while F-rods were carbon rods that has undergone an extra annealing process before being subjected to HVPC treatment. HVPC fabrication parameters included growth temperature of 1200˚C, dwell time of 8 hours and ramp time of 80 minutes. Only the sample loading setup and the annealing of F-rods were varied. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) were used to characterized the morphology, and elemental composition of the grown nanomaterials. Results showed that silver nanosphere were successfully deposited on the carbon rods while carbon nanowires were grown on the surface of the glass tubes. High yield of nanomaterial was fabricated in a 5% by mass addition of silver powder on a 35 mg of carbon powder. The flame annealing of the carbon rod (F-rod) promoted nucleation of nanomaterial. The role of HVPC grown silver and carbon nanomaterial on a battery’s characteristic was confirmed.