The role of Carica papaya latex and aluminum oxide on the formation of carbon nanofibre made of coconut shell

Abstract

This research examines the role of bio-activator, papaya latex in the synthesis of nanoporous carbon fibre made of the coal of coconut shell with aluminum oxide. The porous carbon was generated from coal activated by the papaya latex at the temperature of 60 °C for 4 h. The high energy milling (HEM) process up to 600 thousand cycles was applied to the porous carbon added with a precursor of aluminum oxide. The size and morphology of the particle are analyzed using SEM and TEM while the molecular group and the particle crystallization are analyzed with FTIR and XRD. The results show that papaya latex plays an effective role in breaking down the oxygen atoms in carbonyl group on the surface of carbon particle and in aluminum oxide. The oxygen breakdown creates pores in carbon particle and active site on the aluminum oxide. When the HEM is applied, the porous carbon particle breaks into fullerene-like nanoparticle whose yield is high and spontaneously connects the aluminum oxide as intercalation of particle whose structure turns into dimer C60 (bucky-ball) in the form of carbon nanofibre.