Method of making nanomaterials from a renewable carbon source

A process for making carbon nanosheet material, said process comprising the steps of:

• providing a renewable carbohydrate source to a reactor comprising a solvent to obtain a soaked or dissolved carbohydrate source;
• adding a dehydration solution and a catalyst to the reactor comprising the soaked or dissolved carbohydrate source to obtain a reaction mixture, where
• the dehydration solution has a hydrogen ions concentration of at least approximately 1%, and
• the catalyst is chosen from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, LiAlH4, nickel, yeast, aluminum-nickel alloy, cobalt, B2H6, zinc, NaBH4, and copper;
• charging said reactor with air or inert gas;
• heating the reaction mixture to remove glycosidic linkages and water molecules from the carbohydrate thereby producing an intermediate mixture with sheet-like morphology;
• and
• further heating the intermediate mixture in inert gas to form a network of the carbon nanosheet material, wherein the carbon nanosheet material is in a particulate form, porous foam form, or dispersed in a solvent.