Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2022) 137: 676
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-02881-7

Regular Article

Dye adsorption and superb NIR photothermal conversion property of carbon spheres

Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Islamic Republic of Iran

^a farbod_m@scu.ac.ir

Received: 28 November 2021
Accepted: 25 May 2022
Published online: 9 June 2022

Abstract

Carbon spheres are often used as template for the fabrication of hollow nanostructures, but less themselves have been studied as high-performance materials. In this work, carbon spheres (CNSs) were synthesized by hydrothermal method and their dye adsorption and photothermal conversion efficiencies were investigated. Samples were characterized using SEM, EDX, XRD, FTIR, UV–vis and TGA measurements. The adsorption of methylene blue (MB) at different pH was investigated by carbon spheres and compared with the absorption of Congo red (CR) dye at pH = 7. Excellent adsorption of MB at neutral and basic pH was obtained by the samples. The photothermal properties of carbon spheres were investigated using a 3 W diode laser with a wavelength of 808 nm for different sample concentrations and different laser powers. The results showed that the photothermal properties was improved by increasing sample concentration and laser power. Maximum temperature increase of 70 °C in 6 min was obtained for concentration of 1 g/l and laser power of 3 W/cm².