An Easy Catalyst-Free Hydrothermal Method to Prepare Monodisperse Carbon Microspheres on a Large Scale

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 113; no. 19; pp. 8455 - 8459
• Main Authors: Zheng, Mingtao, Liu, Yingliang, Xiao, Yong, Zhu, Yong, Guan, Qiu, Yuan, Dingsheng, Zhang, Jingxian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 14.05.2009
• Subjects: C: Electron Transport, Optical and Electronic Devices, Hard Matter
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/jp811356a

We report an easy catalyst-free method to prepare carbon microspheres via a hydrothermal carbonization process using starch solution as starting materials. SEM and TEM images show that the products consist of a large scale of monodisperse carbon microspheres with a size of about 2 μm. The size of the carbon microspheres can be easily controlled by regulating the concentration of the starch solution and the reaction temperature. Furthermore, the surface of the spheres is functionalized with hydroxyl and carboxyl groups, which make further surface modification unnecessary and facilitate immobilization of noble metal nanoparticles and fabrication of core−shell materials or hollow structures. Through SEM observation, the mechanism of the formation of carbon microspheres under hydrothermal conditions was suggested to be a direct dehydration polymerization and self-assemble fusion process. The present work provides a convenient yet effective method for large-scale synthesis of monodisperse carbon microspheres with high purity.