Controllable Synthesis of Carbon Spheres Based on Anodic Aluminum Oxide Nano-Template

The reactions were carried out by decomposing acetylene at 1000 ℃ in a two-stage furnace system for 10 min. In the first furnace no catalyst was placed and an AAO template with average diameter about 50 nm was placed in the second furnace whose temperature was designed to be 700 ℃. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results show that carbon spheres with average diameter about 50 nm on the AAO template surface were obtained and these carbon spheres are composed of unclosed graphene layers with an interlayer distance of 0.33–0.35 nm between the layers.