Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon nanoflakes from seeds of Lens culinaris (masoor dal).

Carbon nanoflakes have been prepared from seeds of Lens culinaris (masoor dal) in a muffle furnace at 3000C. The materials were characterized by Tap density, optical microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The TEM images revealed the presence of carbon nanoflakes of thickness ~1 nm. From high resolution TEM, the interlayer spacing is calculated to be 0.33nm which is characteristic of (002) plane of graphitic carbon. The SAED pattern showed concentric rings that confirms the polycrystalline nature of the material. The tap density is found to be 0.66 g/cm3.