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 cetyltrimethylammonium 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 m2/g. The present approach could be further extended to the synthesis of a wide range of carbon nanomaterials by using various surfactants and cosurfactants.