Effect of Carbon Concentration on Changing the Morphology of Titanium Carbide Nanoparticles from Cubic to Cuboctahedron

Titanium carbide nanoparticles were synthesized by flowing methane through a plasma generated from an arc discharge between two titanium electrodes. Different methane concentrations were employed in studies made to investigate the effects of carbon concentration on particle morphology. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to investigate the synthesized TiC nanopowders, whereupon it was found that nanocrystalline TiC nanoparticles prefer a cubic morphology at low concentrations of methane and a cuboctahedron morphology at high concentration of methane. The change in particle morphology is attributed to carbon affecting the relative growth rates of the {111} and {100} facets on a TiC seed crystal.