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

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.