Preparation of hollow carbon nanospheres via explosive detonation

Hollow carbon nanospheres were prepared via a rapid detonation technique, by using negative-oxygen balance explosive trinitrotoluene and nickel powder as starting materials and inorganic acid as solvent. The carbon/metal nanocomposite particles precursor with core-shell structure was engendered firstly during detonation, and then the metal nickel core was dissolved through inorganic acid to attain the hollow carbon nanospheres. High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrum were used to characterize the precursor and the as-synthesized samples respectively. The results show that the external diameter of the hollow carbon nanospheres is 25-150 nm and the thickness of the wall is about 2-10 nm. The surface of hollow carbon nanosphere displays multilayer wall in structure with 0.35 nm space between the layers. Based on the experimental results, possible formation mechanism was also proposed. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.