Hollow carbonaceous capsules from glucose solution.

An easy hydrothermal method was developed for preparing hollow carbonaceous capsules with reactive surface layer and tunable void size, and shell thickness through a hydrothermal method at 180 °C, using only the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and glucose as starting material. Ag nanoparticles of less than 10 nm were loaded onto the surface of capsules under ambient condition. Products were characterized with TEM, SEM, and FT-IR spectra. The process is green, cheap, and easy. Since no toxic materials were used in preparation and as-prepared capsules a shared reactive surface layer and a stable carbonaceous framework, the capsules might find application in fields such as biochemistry, pharmaceutics, and clinical diagnostics.