EVALUATION OF AMORPHOUS/GRAPHITIC CHARACTER OF CARBON MATERIALS

The most well-known carbon forms are allotropes as diamond, graphite, etc., however, the vast range of carbon materials, both natural, terrestrial or extraterrestrial, and synthetic, are characterized by disordered structures, mainly due to the presence and the arrangement inside them of different hybridized carbons. The presence in the carbon network of heteroatoms, in particular hydrogen, enriches the variety of amorphous carbon materials [1,2]. Differently from the perfect allotropes, amorphous/disordered carbons present a unique outstanding feature consisting in the possibility to vary and adjust their properties by choosing the method of deposition or/and synthesis, more suitable for the desired application. The relationship between properties and application requires the development of diagnostic techniques able to infer the complex structure of carbonaceous materials, especially in terms of graphitic/amorphous ratio and aromaticity [3]. In the present work the potentiality of X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques in the structural characterization of carbon materials was explored, by investigating various kinds of disordered materials like flame and arc discharge soot, pitches of different nature, coal and coke.