Synthesis of Carbon Microspheres from Saccharides Based on Hydrothermal Process

Abstract

Three types of saccharides including glucose, fructose and starch were used as the carbon precursors to synthesize carbon microspheres (CMSs) through hydrothermal process and subsequently pyrolysis, with emphasis on investigating the effect of the types of saccharides on the particle size and morphology of the obtained CMSs. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that the CMSs derived from each saccharide are in perfect spherical morphologies whose surfaces are very smooth without cracks. The article size analysis based on the SEM images reveals the particle sizes of the CMSs are controlled by altering the types of saccharides. The mean particle sizes of the CMSs derived from glucose, starch and fructose are 244, 528 and 1060 nm, respectively. The X−ray diffraction displays that the influence of the types of saccharides on the crystal structure of the CMSs can be ignorable. The amorphous carbon phases are formed within all CMSs. The pyrolysis process has no effect on the morphological type of the CMSs but results in particle size contraction, surface smooth and crystal structure transformation. The size shrinkages are around 13.5%. Keywords-saccharide; carbon microspheres; hydrothermal process; pyrolysis