Abstract
Structured spherically shaped carbon nanomaterials exhibit great application potential in various fields. In this work, sub-micron composite carbon spheres (CCSs) were successfully fabricated directly from graphite (Gra) and a small percentage of nanodiamonds (NDs) mixture under microwave irradiation. This was achieved using a scalable micro-mixing of xylene solution of NDs with a colloidal suspension of Gra in dimethylformamide (DMF), with no surfactants, catalysts, or other auxiliary chemicals. The diameters, shape, and yield of the produced CCSs were found to depend on the microwave operating parameters, including reaction time, power, and relative concentration of NDs to that of Gra. The structure of CCSs was established/optimized using the microwave -assisted chemical route at a fixed power of 1000 W for 30 min. These CCSs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photo-electron spectroscope (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This new composite structure might be useful for various applications including energy harvesting, storage, batteries, supercapacitors, etc.