Chemical Synthesis of Carbon Materials With Intriguing Nanostructure and Morphology

In the past decades, carbon materials retain great development because of their indispensable applications in energy storage and conversion, adsorption, catalysis, and others. The evidence is that a number of new structured carbon materials have been synthesized from molecular level, bottom-up strategy. To date, it has been possible to synthesize carbon materials with defined nanostructure and morphology, tunable surface area, and pore size. In this review, we focus on discussing the recent development of chemically synthesized carbon materials with intriguing nanostructure and morphology. For convenience, these materials are grouped into four categories 0D quantum dots and spheres; 1D fibers, tubes, and wires; 2D films and membranes; and 3D monolithic structure. In each category, materials synthesis strategies are discussed, whereas their applications are briefly touched. In the last section, we made a brief summary and discussed the future perspectives of carbon materials. We expect that this review not only summarizes the main achievements in this area, but also creates interdisciplinary activities in between carbon chemistry and other research areas.