Catalytic Graphitization by Nickel Nitrate and Characterization on Palm Oil Solid Waste Graphite

Catalytic graphitization of biomass has been extensively studied. The conventional graphitization method uses high temperatures and non-renewable carbon sources. Temperatures below 1000°C was used in biomass graphitization. The aim of this study is to how these variables affect the structural and morphological properties of the graphite materials produced. In graphite production process, catalyst impregnation is followed by heat treatment. The graphitization process starting with amorphous carbon nanospheres, is investigated by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) studies. XRD was used to examine the graphitization behavior of palm oil solid waste. Based on the result, the position of the 2 theta peak intensity on the XRD graph of the Ni graphitized sample is extremely near to that on the XRD graph of the raw material and carbon sample. The morphological changes that occur in the SEM images for materials graphitized with nickel nitrate are characterized by structures comparable to those that occur in carbon samples. The circular structures in the graphitized sample are anisotropic and structured without orientation bias.