Controllable Route to Solid and Hollow Monodisperse Carbon Nanospheres

An effective mechanism to prepare monodisperse carbon nanospheres with a regular round-ball-like shape is introduced. The route involves three steps: first, to synthesize monodisperse cross-linked polystyrene beads (CLPBs) by soap-free emulsion polymerization; second, to increase the cross-linking degree of CLPBs via Friedel−Crafts alkylation as a post-cross-linking reaction; third, to carbonize the reaction product. Both solid and hollow carbon spheres can be produced by adjusting the post-cross-linking reaction time. Fourier transform infrared spectra demonstrated the occurrence of a Friedel−Crafts alkylation reaction, and X-ray diffraction results showed that the carbon nanospheres are amorphous in structure. Typically, nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements indicate that solid and hollow carbon nanospheres have a Brunauer−Emmett−Teller surface area as high as 498 and 451 m 2 /g, respectively. So it indicates that this method is novel in the field of preparation of carbon microspheres.