Fabrication of carbon nanospheres by the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile-poly(methyl methacrylate) core-shell composite nanoparticles.

ABSTRACT: Carbon nanospheres with a high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area were fabricated via the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PAN-PMMA) core-shell nanoparticles. Firstly, PAN-PMMA nanoparticles at high concentration and low surfactant content were controllably synthesized by a two-stage azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN)-initiated semicontinuous emulsion polymerization. The carbon nanospheres were obtained after the PAN core domain was converted into carbon and the PMMA shell was sacrificed via the subsequent heat treatment steps. The thickness of the PMMA shell can be easily adjusted by changing the feeding volume ratio (FVR) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) to acrylonitrile (AN). At an FVR of 1.6, the coarse PAN cores were completely buried in the PMMA shells

SUBMITTER: Wei D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5629418 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature