Merlin electron microscope

The specific surface area, volume, and pore size of the carbonized aerogel were studied using nitrogen adsorption at 77 K with an Autosorb iQ automatic analyzer (Quantachrome Instruments, Boynton Beach, FL, USA). The structural characteristics were studied using X-ray phase analysis with a Thermo Scientific ARL Equinox 1000 X-ray diffractometer (TechTrend Science Co., Ltd., Tainan City, Taiwan). A MERLIN electron microscope (Carl Zeiss, Jena, Germany) and a JEM-2010 instrument (JEOL Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) were used for scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) investigations, respectively, to study surface topography and morphology. The chemical analysis of the material composition and structure was performed through Raman spectroscopy with a DXR Raman microscope (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses were performed with a NETZSCH STA 449 F3 Jupiter simultaneous thermal analysis instrument (NETZSCH-Feinmahltechnik GmbH, Selb, Germany).

The morphologies of the microstructures of the synthesized Samples 1 and 2 were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with a Zeiss Merlin electron microscope (Zeiss, Germany) equipped with the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) module (Oxford Instruments INCAx-act, UK). X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) measurements were performed on a D2 Phaser (Bruker, USA) X-ray diffractometer using Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.54056 Å). The particle size distribution of the aqueous solution of Sample 3 was revealed by the dynamic light scattering technique with an SZ-100 Series Nanoparticle Analyzer (Horiba Jobin Yvon, Japan) The luminescence spectra were recorded with a Fluorolog-3 fluorescence spectrometer (Horiba Jobin Yvon, Japan). Lifetime measurements were performed with the same spectrometer using a pulsed Xe lamp (pulse duration 3 µs). The absolute values of the photoluminescence quantum yields were recorded using a Fluorolog 3 Quanta-phi device. All measurements were performed at the temperature of 25 °C.