Nanorods of all organic porous m-cresol–formaldehyde having photoluminescence at room temperature

Cresol–formaldehyde resins are versatile polymer having numerous applications in ion exchange, catalysis, supercapacitors, photoresistant materials, etc. Here, we first report a new nanostructured non-crystalline cresol–formaldehyde material NCF-1, synthesized through hydrothermal condensation of m-cresol and formaldehyde at 363 K under mild alkaline condition in the presence of supramolecular assembly of cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as structure directing agent (SDA). The material was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, TEM, TG-DTA, UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. TEM image analysis revealed nanorod morphology of NCF-1 material with diameter of the rods 30–50 nm and disordered wormhole-like nanostructure with pores of ca. 2.5 nm. These composite materials exhibit photoluminescence property at room temperature, which could be utilized for the fabrication of novel organic optical devices.