An easy preparation of bulk nanostructured carbon materials

The main objective of this study was to develop an easy method, based on the hydrogen-bonding interaction between a polymer network and a sucrose solution, for fabricating bulk nanostructured carbon materials. In this study, bulk nanostructured carbon materials were synthesized by using the superabsorbent polymers with multiple networks, prepared in advance, as templates and sucrose as a carbon precursor. The synthesis scheme consisted of preparing the multiple polymer networks, saturating it with sucrose solution and carbonizing the sucrose solution. The above procedure leads to the carbon materials with a variety of new morphologies: leaves-like carbon sheets, carbon clusters, carbon sticks and spherical carbons. This synthesis scheme allowed the fabrication of bulk nanostructured carbon materials, and a mechanism for their formation is proposed.