The present invention relates to a method for preparing a
carbon nanotube material, comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a modified
montmorillonite by an
ion exchange reaction comprising the substeps of: i) acidifying an alkylamine with equal mole of a concentrated HCl; ii) mixing the resulting acidified alkylamine with a
montmorillonite dispersion in 1:1˜2 volume ratio of the acidified alkylamine to the
montmorillonite dispersion; and iii) precipitating, filtering and pulverizing to obtain a modified montmorillonite; (b) preparing a catalyst by a hydrogenation reduction method, comprising the substeps of: i) mixing an
aqueous solution of
nickel nitrate and an
alumina-silica
hybrid in a weight ratio of 35-45 parts of
nickel to 55-65 parts of
alumina-silica hydrid, wherein the
alumina-silica hydrid contains 10 wt % of alumina and has a particle size of 10-30 μm; ii)
drying and calcining the resulting product; and iii) reducing the product with a reducing gas containing
hydrogen to produce a
nickel-supported catalyst; (c) preparing a
polyolefin mixture of a
polyolefin, the modified montmorillonite prepared in step a) and the catalyst prepared in step b) in a mixer in the weight ratio of 75˜97.5:0˜20:0˜5 provided that the amounts of the modified montmorillonite and the catalyst are not both 0; and (d) preparing and purifying a
nanotube, comprising the substeps of: i) placing the
polyolefin mixture obtained in step (c) in a
crucible and heating the temperature inside
crucible up to 550° C.˜650° C., wherein the
heating time begins from the burning of the
polymer and ends when no
flame can be observed and cooling the polyolefin mixture to obtain a mixture of
carbon nanotube,
nickel catalyst and montmorillonite; ii) adding a
hydrofluoric acid with a concentration of 20-50% to the mixture, mixing, and separating to obtain a carbon
powder; and iii) adding a mixture of a concentrated
sulfuric acid and a concentrated
nitric acid, refluxing, and separating to obtain a purified
carbon nanotube. The
carbon source material used in the present invention was polyolefin or recovered polyolefin whose price was low and whose source was abundant. The manufacturing facilities involved for preparing supported catalyst and modified montmorillonite were simple. The mixer used was that of the conventional fabricating equipment for polymeric materials while the facilities used for synthesizing carbon
nanotube material were porcelain
crucible and common
flame. The method could simultaneously solve the problem of
recovery and utilization of waste plastics.