Synthesis of Nanostructured Carbon through Ionothermal Carbonization of Common Organic Solvents and Solutions

Abstract 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 ZnCl 2 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 CO 2 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.