One-Step Combustion Synthesis of Novel Nanocarbons via Magnesiothermic Reduction of Carbon-Containing Oxidants

Abstract

The aim of this work was to transform carbon-containing ammonium oxalate, (NH4)2C2O4, and ammonium acetate, NH4CH3CO2, into 3D graphene-like carbon nanomaterials via magnesiothermic reduction. Both raw and purified products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TGA, and Raman spectra. The conversion of the initial amount of carbon (in salts) into solid carbon (in purified product) varied between 8.5% (for oxalate) and 90.0% (for acetate). The XRD results confirmed the absence of starting salts in the raw products (MgO and C). The purified product was found to contain largely the turbostratic carbon forming a petal-like 3D graphene material. The application potential of synthesized materials was demonstrated on the example of the removal of 4-chlorophenol from its aqueous solution.