Synthesis and Fabrication of Advanced Carbon Nanostructures

Abstract

Porous carbon materials play a crucial role in materials chemistry owing to their unique physiochemical properties. Usual synthesis methods endow carbon materials with random morphologies and hence consequent in poor material utilization. To enhance the efficiency of these materials for different applications, advanced synthesis methods are required that are capable of producing application specific properties. Nanostructuring is one of the advanced synthesis methods which have control over the surface area, porous structure, and many other properties thus enabling full material utilization. Further, molecular designing of porous carbon materials regulates electrical conductivity, band gap, and also interaction with different functional groups. Nanostructures are synthesized either by a bottom-up or top-down approach. The bottom-up approach relies on the attractive forces between the building blocks whereas in the top-down approach, large materials are deconstructed to give nanostructures. However, these approaches comprise various synthesis methods; nevertheless, the chapter will be confined to some recent non-traditional synthesis methods.