Shape-controlled synthesis of nanocarbons from resorcinol-formaldehyde nanopolymers using surfactant-templated vesicular assemblies

The NaOH-catalyzed polymerization of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) confined to the vesicular assemblies of cetyltrimethy-ammonium bromide as a core template mixed with 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene and tert-butanol (tBuOH) as cosurfactants yielded RF polymer/cetyltrimethylammonium composite nanowires and nanospheres depending on the amount of tBuOH. Carbonization of the resulting nanpolymers led to microporous carbon nanowires of 45-240 nm diameter and nanospheres of 260-650 nm diameter. Similar but a little modified reactions successfully resulted in monodispersed carbon nanospheres of ca. 280 nm diameter as well as monodispersed carbon nanowires of ca. 70 nm diameter with a high surface area of 1777 m(2)/g. The present approach could be further extended to the synthesis of a wide range of carbon nanomaterials by using various surfactants and cosurfactants. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.