Carbide-Derived Carbons

The synthesis of carbon can be arranged through many different techniques, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), including plasma enhanced CVD, ^1,2 low pressure CVD, ³ laser ablation, ^4,5 and arc discharge, ^6,7 hydrothermal synthesis, ⁸ electrolysis, ⁹ and various other techniques. ¹⁰ The temperatures needed to synthesize carbonaceous materials can vary from subzero ⁹ to thousands of degree centigrade, ¹¹ although the pressure can vary from low pressures (as when making amorphous carbon coatings ³ ) to extremely high pressures (e.g., diamond synthesis ¹¹ ). With thermal energy being the main source of energy for bond breaking and atomic mobility (such as in CVD), different synthesis conditions are required for the various allotropes of carbon.