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A convenient, general synthesis of carbide nanofibres via templated reactions on carbon nanotubes in molten salt media

This research, which strengthened ongoing links with Prof. Xuanke Li, Wuhan University of Science and Technology (xkli8524@sina.com), delivered a widely applicable carbide synthesis process that, unlike others, produces metal nanocarbides of sufficient quality for potential applications including photocatalyst precursors, electron emitters and wear-resistant coatings. Photocatalyst precursors are of major interest for "green energy", since partially oxidised titanium nanocarbides offer potential for producing hydrogen from water using sunlight. Indeed, this research was applied by Cong et al. (Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 107 (2011) 128–134) to prepare carbon-doped TiO2-coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes which show higher visible light photocatalytic activity than TiO2.