Synthesis and spectroscopic studies of carbon nanosheets (CNSs) produced by pyrolysis of phthalazinium betaines at relatively lower temperature

Abstract

The main scope of this comprehensive study is to investigate the annealing temperature effects (300 °C ≤ T ≤ 500 °C) on the crucial properties as regards the characteristic bond structures, surface morphology, crystallinity, crystal plane alignments, phase purity, local elemental compositions and distributions of the carbon nanosheets (CNSs). The materials are prepared by the solid-state air pyrolysis of the compound, 2-phenylphthalazin-2-ium-4-olate (phthalazinium betaine). Characterization of compounds prepared in air atmosphere conditions is performed by thermal gravimetric analysis, Fourier transformation-infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electron-dispersive X-ray techniques. It is found that the temperature value of 350 °C favors the formation velocity of CNSs due to the transition in more turbostratic structure of the system. In fact, the product (prepared at 350 °C) exhibits the largest nucleation and growth rates on the surface. Thus, the distribution (regular grain orientation) of CNSs is observed to be most homogenous, leading to the larger nestlike structures with more corrugated and bunched forms (much sharper edges) in the crystal structure. All the results obtained demonstrate that the best product with unique features is an intriguing material for potential applications in nanoelectronics and biomedical systems.