Synthesis of carbon nanohorns by a gas-injected arc-in-water method and application to catalyst-support for polymer electrolyte fuel cell electrodes

Single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) were synthesized by a gas-injected arc-in-water method with varied gas flow rate, arc current, and gas component to investigate their influence on the purity, the yield, and the structure of the products, in which the quenching rate of the carbon vapour in the optimized condition for SWNHs formation was revealed as order of mega-K s(-1), and thereafter the characteristics of the as-grown SWNHs for the use of a fuel cell electrode were related with the arc current in their production.