Utilizing a Single Silica Nanospring as an Insulating Support to Characterize the Electrical Transport and Morphology of Nanocrystalline Graphite

A graphitic carbon, referred to as graphite from the University of Idaho thermolyzed asphalt reaction (GUITAR), was coated in silica nanosprings and silicon substrates via the pyrolysis of commercial roofing tar at 800 °C in an inert atmosphere. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images indicate that GUITAR is an agglomeration of carbon nanospheres formed by the accretion of graphitic flakes into a ~100 nm layer. Raman spectroscopic analyses, in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, indicate that GUITAR has a nanocrystalline structure consisting of ~1–5 nm graphitic flakes interconnected by amorphous sp(3) bonded carbon. The electrical resistivities of 11 single GUITAR-coated nanospring devices were measured over a temperature range of 10–80 °C. The average resistivity of all 11 devices at 20 °C was 4.3 ± 1.3 × 10(−3) Ω m. The GUITAR coated nanospring devices exhibited an average negative temperature coefficient of resistivity at 20 °C of −0.0017 ± 0.00044 °C(−1), which is consistent with the properties of nanocrystalline graphite.