A facile and environmentally friendly biomass-assisted stӧber method to fabricate dispersed carbon nanospheres

Mesoporous carbon nanospheres (MCs) with high dispersity, specific surface area (~ 1045 m²/g) and large pore volume (0.92 cm³/g) were fabricated through a facile biomass-assisted stӧber method. In this process, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) not only acted as a pore-forming agent but also as a dispersant to reduce the cross-linking of particles, which has never been reported before. Inspiringly, the particle morphologies and mesoporous structures of the obtained MCs could be facilely tuned by varying the NH₃·H₂O concentration. Compared with previously reported method, the present strategy affords a convenient, inexpensive and environmentally friendly biomass-assisted stӧber method as well as proposes a possible route to prepare spherical carbon nanoparticles with mesoporous structures.