General synthesis of carbon nanocages and their adsorption of toxic compounds from cigarette smoke

Carbon nanocages (CNCs) have been synthesized through a simple approach using different alcohols and ferrous oxalate as reactants at 550 °C for 12 h in a sealed autoclave. The lengths of the sides of the CNCs are about 200-350 nm and the wall thicknesses are about 10-15 nm. The formation mechanism of the CNCs is also discussed, based on the experimental results. These CNCs show excellent removal efficiency for phenolic compounds, ammonia, and total particulate matter from cigarette smoke. The adsorption capability of CNCs prepared from ethanol is much higher than that of other samples. For example, the efficiency of 5 mg CNCs (ethanol) for removing the six phenolic compounds p-dihydroxybenzene, m-dihydroxybenzene, o-dihydroxybenzene, phenol, m-cresol, and o-cresol can reach 57.31%, 62.25%, 65.58%, 75.95%, 54.34% and 59.43%, respectively, while that of the commercial activated carbon (5 mg) can only reach 29.02%, 33.93%, 35.00%, 36.00%, 20.33% and 36.19%, respectively, under the same conditions.