Confined self-assembly approach to produce ultrathin carbon nanofibers

A surfactant containing a terminal carbon source moiety was synthesized and used simultaneously as both template molecule and carbon source. On the basis of this special structure-directing agent, an efficient strategy for producing uniform carbon nanowires with diameter below 1 nm was developed using a confined self-assembly approach. Besides the capability of producing ultralong and thin carbon wires inaccessible by the previously reported approaches, the method described here presents many advantages such as the direct use of residue iron complex as catalyst for carbonization and no requirement of conventional tedious infiltration process of carbon source into small channels. Different methods including SEM, TEM, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and conductivity measurement were employed to characterize the formed ultrathin carbon nanofibers. Additionally, the described strategy is extendable. By designing an appropriate surfactant, it is also possible for the fabrication of the finely structured carbon network and ultrathin graphitic sheets through the construction of the corresponding cubic and lamellar mesostructured templates.