Carbon nanospheres fabricated by pyrolysis of micelles formed in pectin gels

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Title

Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings

Publication Date

12-1-2010

Abstract

Formation of carbon nanospheres is typically relegated to two costly methods. Chemical vapor deposition produces uniform spheres safely anchored to a substrate but at the cost of being slow and expensive to run. Arc discharge of a carbon target produces soot containing a low density of random spheres that must be laboriously sorted. An alternative approach is to fabricate carbon nanospheres through the pyrolysis of organic feedstock. This paper presents the findings from an investigation into using pectin as a pre-cursor material for pyrolysis. The pectin is combined with different saccharides - sucrose, dextrose, and fructose and processed in aqueous solution until a gel set. The gel is then thermally processed in a nitrogen environment at 500°C. The resultant carbon material is examined under SEM. Images confirm the formation of nanospheres and other microscale and nanoscale structures. The pectin, a naturally derived product from plant materials, is a renewable source of materials which can be used to form nanotechnologies for many energy-related applications. © 2010 Materials Research Society.

Volume

1219

First Page

22

Last Page

27

ISSN

02729172

ISBN

9781617822070

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