Graphitic carbon nanoparticles are in high demand for sensing, health care, and manufacturing industries. Physical vapour deposition (PVD) methods are advantageous for in-situ synthesis of graphitic carbon particles due to their ability to produce large area distributions. However, the carbon particles can agglomerate, irrespective of the PVD method, and form coagulated structures while growing inside the vacuum chamber. The random shapes and sizes of these particles lead to non-uniform properties and characteristics, hence making them less attractive for numerous industrial applications, such as energy storage batteries and structural health monitoring. Therefore, the in-situ synthesis of isolated carbon particles produced in a single-step PVD process having control over size, shape, and large area distributions has remained inspiring for the past 30 years. This article gives an overview of characteristics, applications, industrial impact, and global revenue of graphite particles. A critical review on in-situ growth of graphitic carbon particles with different PVD methods is described with selected examples. A comprehensive summary compares the capability of different PVD techniques and corresponding carbon resources to produce graphitic particles with numerous sizes and shapes. Analysing the outputs of various PVD methods, a generalised four-stage model is explained to understand the in-situ growth of graphitic carbon particles, which start from seedings and grow as particles, clusters, and granular structures. It is concluded that the isolated carbon particles can be produced with specific size, shape, and distributions irrespective of the PVD method employed, by maintaining precise control over combinations of deposition system properties and process parameters.

石墨碳纳米粒子在传感、医疗保健和制造行业的需求量很大。物理气相沉积 (PVD) 方法有利于石墨碳颗粒的原位合成，因为它们能够产生大面积分布。然而，无论采用何种 PVD ​​方法，碳颗粒都会结块，并在真空室内生长时形成凝结结​​构。这些颗粒的随机形状和尺寸导致不均匀的特性和特性，因此使它们对许多工业应用的吸引力降低，例如储能电池和结构健康监测。因此，原位在过去的 30 年中，通过控制尺寸、形状和大面积分布的单步 PVD ​​工艺合成分离的碳颗粒一直令人鼓舞。本文概述了石墨颗粒的特性、应用、工业影响和全球收入。用选定的例子描述了使用不同 PVD ​​方法对石墨碳颗粒原位生长的批判性评论。综合总结比较了不同 PVD ​​技术和相应碳资源生产具有多种尺寸和形状的石墨颗粒的能力。分析各种 PVD ​​方法的输出，解释了广义四阶段模型以了解原位石墨碳颗粒的生长，从晶种开始并以颗粒、簇和粒状结构生长。得出的结论是，通过保持对沉积系统特性和工艺参数组合的精确控制，可以生产具有特定尺寸、形状和分布的分离碳颗粒，而与采用的 PVD ​​方法无关。