Investigation of hydrothermal process time on the size of carbon micro- and nano-spheres

Subject Areas : Journal of Optoelectronical Nanostructures

Khadijeh Hemmati Kahradeh ¹ , Esmaiel Saievar-Iranizad ² , Amir Bayat ³

1 - Department of Physics, Faculty of Basic Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Department of Physics, Faculty of Basic Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Department of Physics, Faculty of Basic Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2016-12-09 Accepted : 2017-01-25 Published : 2017-05-01

Keywords: Carbon microspheres, Carbon nanospheres, Hydrothermal process,

Abstract :

In this study, carbon nano-micro spheres with tightly controllable size, regular
and perfect shape, high yields and narrow size distribution were prepared simply from
glucose and DI water as precursors using a hydrothermal method. By setting the initial
concentration of glucose solution and changing the hydrothermal process time at a
constant temperature of 160 °C, carbon spheres with various sizes were synthesized in a
sealed autoclave. The relationship between the average carbon sphere size and
hydrothermal process time has been discussed. By increasing the hydrothermal process time
at a constant temperature (160 ° C) and a constant concentration of glucose solution (0.75 molar),
carbon nano-micro spheres were obtained. The diameters of carbon nano-micro spheres
synthesized in this study ranged from 90 nm to 4.5 μm. The obtained carbon nano-micro
spheres were analyzed by different techniques including scanning electron microscopy
(SEM), X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and
Raman analysis. In addition, the existence of surface functional groups on carbon
nano/micro spheres was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)
measurements.

References:

[1] K. Esumi, S. Eshima, Y. Murakami, H. Honda, and H. Oda. Preparation of hollow
carbon-microbeads from water-in-oil emulsion using amphiphilic carbonaceous
material. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects.
[Online]. 108(1) (1996.) 113-116. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0927775795033912
[2] Q. Wang, F. Cao, Q. Chen, and C. Chen. Preparation of carbon micro-spheres by
hydrothermal treatment of methylcellulose sol. Materials Letters. [Online]. 59(28)
(2005, July.) 3738-3741. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167577X05006610
[3] V. G. Pol, M. Motiei, A. Gedanken, J. Calderon-Moreno, and M. Yoshimura. Carbon
spherules: synthesis, properties and mechanistic elucidation. Carbon. [Online].
42(1) (2004.) 111-116. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622303004743
[4] X. Zhu, S. Wang, W. Huang, Y. Tian, and X. Wang. Controllable synthesis of
mesoporous carbon nanospheres with uniform size by a facile one-pot aqueous
strategy under highly acidic conditions. Carbon. [Online]. 105 (2016, April.) 521-
528. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622316303505
[5] S. Wang, W.-C. Li, G.-P. Hao, Y. Hao, Q. Sun, X.-Q. Zhang, et al.. Temperatureprogrammed precise control over the sizes of carbon nanospheres based on
benzoxazine chemistry. Journal of the American Chemical Society. [Online]. 133(39)
(2011, September.) 15304-15307. Available:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja206333w
[6] M. H. Joula and M. Farbod. Synthesis of uniform and size-controllable carbon
nanospheres by a simple hydrothermal method and fabrication of carbon nanosphere
super-hydrophobic surface. Applied Surface Science. [Online]. 347. (2015, April.)
535-540. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016943321500968X
[7] J. Chen, N. Xia, T. Zhou, S. Tan, F. Jiang, and D. Yuan. Mesoporous carbon
spheres: Synthesis, characterization and supercapacitance. Int. J. Electrochem.
[Online]. 4 (2009, August.) 1063-1073. Available:
electrochemsci.org/papers/vol4/4081063.pdf
[8] Y. Z. Jin, Y. J. Kim, C. Gao, Y. Q. Zhu, A. Huczko, M. Endo, et al.. High temperature
annealing effects on carbon spheres and their applications as anode materials in Liion secondary battery. Carbon. [Online]. 44(4) (2006.) 724-729. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622305005610
[9] X. Sun, J. Liu, and Y. Li. Use of carbonaceous polysaccharide microspheres as
templates for fabricating metal oxide hollow spheres. Chemistry–A European
Journal. [Online]. 12(7) (2006.) 2039-2047. Available:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.200500660/full
[10]Z. Wang, P. Xiao, and N. He. Synthesis and characteristics of carbon encapsulated
magnetic nanoparticles produced by a hydrothermal reaction. Carbon. [Online].
44(15) (2006, August.) 3277-3284. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622306003551
[11]X. Song, P. Gunawan, R. Jiang, S. S. J. Leong, K. Wang, and R. Xu. Surface
activated carbon nanospheres for fast adsorption of silver ions from aqueous
solutions. Journal of hazardous materials. [Online]. 194 (2011, August.) 162-168.
Available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389411009575
[12]Z. Wen, Q. Wang, Q. Zhang, and J. Li. Hollow carbon spheres with wide size
distribution as anode catalyst support for direct methanol fuel cells.
Electrochemistry communications. [Online]. 9(8) (2007, April.) 1867-1872.
Available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388248107001701
[13]H.-s. Qian, F.-m. Han, B. Zhang, Y.-c. Guo, J. Yue, and B.-x. Peng. Non-catalytic
CVD preparation of carbon spheres with a specific size. Carbon. [Online]. 42(4)
(2004, February.) 761-766. Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622304000260
[14]Y. Mi, W. Hu, Y. Dan, and Y. Liu. Synthesis of carbon micro-spheres by a glucose
hydrothermal method. Materials Letters. [Online]. 62(8) (2008.) 1194-1196.
Available : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167577X07008026
[15]C.-l. Yin, G.-f. Wen, Q.-z. Huang, X.-f. Wang, L.-m. He, and B.-r. Liu. Carbon
spheres prepared via solvent-thermal reaction method and their microstructures
after high temperature treatment. Journal of Central South University of
Technology. [Online]. 17 (2010, November.) 895-898. Available:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11771-010-0573-6
[16]X. Sun and Y. Li. Colloidal carbon spheres and their core/shell structures with
noble‐metal nanoparticles. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. [Online].
43(5) (2004, January.) 597-601. Available:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.200352386/full