Preparation of Nano-Carbon Gravel: Synergistic Effect of SDBS and NaBr

Carbon nanoparticles resembling gravel were successfully prepared by self-aggregation of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) based on the concentrated salt NaBr system, which could be named as nano-carbon gravel (NCG). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy (Raman), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photoluminescence (PL) were used to perform a series of characterizations of NCG. The results showed that the prepared NCG had the intrinsic properties of carbon materials, which were mainly characterized by amorphous carbon with some graphite features. It is worth noting that the NCG widely contained a large number of particles with sizes less than 100 nm and a high degree of particle dispersion. More interestingly, it was initially found that the NCG had blue and cyan-green luminescent behaviors under different wavelength excitations in the range of 360–420 nm, suggesting that it might have some potential applications in the optical field. This method was operable, environmentally friendly and low-cost, and NaBr only played an important role in separation and protection in the construction stage of carbon nanomaterial morphology in the experimental process, and could be effectively recycled after being dissolved by water washing.