Synthesis of nanostructured carbon through ionothermal carbonization of common organic solvents and solutions.

A combination of ionothermal synthesis and hot-injection techniques leads to novel nanocarbons made from organic solvents. Controlled addition of commonly used organic solvents into a hot ZnCl2 melt gives rise to spherical, sheetlike, and branched nanofibrous carbon nanoparticles with surprisingly high carbon efficiency. When heteroatom-containing solvents were used, the doping levels reach up to 14 wt. % nitrogen and 13 wt. % sulfur. Materials with high surface areas and large pore volumes of solvent carbons as high as 1666 m(2)  g(-1) and 2.80 cm(3)  g(-1) in addition to CO2 adsorption capacities of 4.13 mmol g(-1) at 273 K and 1 bar can be obtained. The new method works not only for pure carbon materials, but was also extended for the synthesis of carbon/inorganic nanocomposites. ZnS@C, Ni@C, and Co@C were successfully prepared with this straightforward procedure. The obtained Ni@C nanocomposites perform well in the electrocatalytic water oxidation, comparable with commercial noble-metal catalysts.