Large-scale synthesis of onion-like carbon nanoparticles by carbonization of phenolic resin

Abstract Onion-like carbon nanoparticles have been synthesized on a large scale by carbonization of phenolic-formaldehyde resin at 1000 °C with the aid of ferric nitrate (FN). The effects of FN loading content on the yield, morphology and structure of carbonized products were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM and X-ray diffraction. It was found that the onion-like carbon nanoparticles, which had a narrow size distribution ranging from 30 to 50 nm, were composed mainly of quasi-spherically concentric shells of well-aligned graphene layers with interlayer spacing of 0.336 nm. Based on the results of the investigation, the formation mechanism of onion-like carbon nanoparticles was also discussed.