Synthesis of twisted ribbon-like carbon, carbon microtubes and carbon rod from mercerized cotton fiber

•Helical carbon, carbon microtubes, and carbon rods were synthesized by carbonizing mercerized cotton fibers.•The surface area of carbonized cotton fiber without mercerization was 203 m2/g.•The surface area of carbonized cotton fiber with mercerization was improved to 726 m2/g.

In this study, we used mercerized cotton fibers as carbonization precursors to fabricate carbon materials having different structures. The morphologies of the synthesized carbon materials were successfully controlled by varying the mercerization time. Twisted ribbon-like carbon structures, carbon microtubes, and carbon rods could be synthesized by carbonizing non-mercerized cotton fibers, cotton fibers mercerized for 40 min, and fully mercerized cotton fibers (i.e., fibers mercerized for 60 min), respectively. Interestingly, along with the morphological changes, the specific surface areas of these carbon materials were also changed to 203.7, 726, and 276.7 m2/g, respectively. This method of fabricating carbon materials should lead to the synthesis of novel, structured carbon materials with various functionalities as it exploits both the natural structure of cotton fibers and artificial chemical processes.

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