A novel bottom-up solvothermal synthesis of carbon nanosheets

Abstract

We report a bottom-up one-step solvothermal synthesis of thin layered carbon nanosheets (CNSs) by dehydrating glycerol with concentrated sulfuric acid in the presence of melamine. In this synthesis, melamine plays a critical role in the formation of the thin-layered CNS. This CNS was found to be a highly effective adsorption material: its adsorption of methylene blue (MB) is considerably faster than GO with a maximum adsorption capacity of MB at 585 mg g-1, comparable to most of the other carbon based nanomaterials. © 2014 The Royal Society of Chemistry.