Synthesis of carbon micro-spheres by a glucose hydrothermal method

Carbon micro-spheres with a regular and perfect shape, high yields and narrow size distribution were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal route in a stainless steel autoclave. In this process, the aqueous glucose solution was used as starting materials. The optimal reaction conditions for obtaining carbon micro-spheres were 500 °C and 12 h. The resulting products were characterized by using combined techniques including X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) and Raman spectroscopy. The diameters of carbon micro-spheres ranged from 1 to 2 μm.