Size-controlled nitrogen-containing mesoporous carbon nanospheres by one-step aqueous self-assembly strategy

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 3; no. 5; pp. 2305 - 2313
• Main Authors: Wang, Jia, Liu, Hongyang, Diao, Jiangyong, Gu, Xianmo, Wang, Haihua, Rong, Junfeng, Zong, Baoning, Su, Dang Sheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2015
• Subjects: aminophenols; ammonia; Carbon; catalytic activity; dehydrogenation; ethylbenzene; Feasibility; moieties; Nanospheres; nitrogen; Optimization; oxygen; porous media; Self assembly; Strategy; Sustainability; Synthesis
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/C4TA05820H

Nitrogen-containing mesoporous carbon nanospheres with tunable sizes have been prepared through an aqueous self-assembly process with F127 as a template and morphological control agent, and 3-aminophenol as carbon and nitrogen sources. The sphere sizes could be simply tuned by optimizing the concentration of F127 and ammonia. Compared with a traditional nanocasting method and a hydrothermal process, the present one-step method has the striking features of a simple synthesis process and easy introduction of the nitrogen atom into the carbon nanospheres. The feasibility of the fabrication method may open up a new way for the synthesis of heteroatom-containing carbon nanospheres with mesoporous structure. The prepared nitrogen-containing mesoporous carbon nanospheres exhibit good catalytic performance in the direct dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene due to their unique mesostructure and abundant oxygen and nitrogen functional groups.