Sol-gel method has been used to coat multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with zirconia at room temperature and the coated tubes were sintered at high temperature. The samples were characterised by Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, environmental scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray analyses. The performance of the coated-MWCNTs was investigated as a function of temperature. The TGA studies indicated that sintering of coated-MWCNTs has improved its oxidation resistance and this improvement is related to the proper selection of sintering temperature.
Carbon nanotubes, MWCNTs, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, sol-gel, zirconia coating, thermal stability
