Carbonaceous materials prepared from carbon tetrachloride and dimethyl sulfoxide

A novel liquid/solid two‐phase reaction has been discovered that enables destruction of carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) to a black carbon‐based material. The solid phase is potassium hydroxide, and the liquid phase is a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution of carbon tetrachloride and contains a certain amount of tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) as the phase‐transfer catalyst. The reaction can be carried out at room temperature and under normal pressure. Pyrolysis of the carbon‐based materials at 700°C and under a nitrogen atmosphere resulted in the formation of amorphous carbonaceous nanoparticles with diameters in the range of 30–60 nm. The carbonaceous materials have a specific surface area of 430 m 2 /g and an average pore size of 16 Å. Raman spectral and elemental analysis results show the carbonaceous material consists of sp 3 and sp 2 carbons and also contains a small amount of hydrogen (H/C = 0.08). © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 785–791, 2002