TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The method comprises providing a precursor mixture including a carbon precursor and a catalyst precursor composition including a catalytic metal and an organic dispersing agent, polymerizing the precursor mixture to form a polymerized carbon material, treating the surface of the polymerized carbon material with a mixture of a solvent and a long chain carboxylic acid and removing the solvent to yield a surface treated polymerized carbon material with the long chain carboxylic acid applied to the surface of it, and step (c) and (d) as above per se. The long chain hydrocarbon is applied by contacting the polymerized carbon material with a mixture of the long chain hydrocarbon surfactant and a solvent and then removing the solvent. The treating step includes heating the polymerized carbon material in the presence of the long chain carboxylic acid at 50-300 degrees C for at least 1 hour. The long chain hydrocarbon surfactant is applied at a temperature of at least 50 degrees C. Preferred Components: The organic solvent is an alcohol. The long chain hydrocarbon surfactant includes a hydrocarbon chain having at least 8 carbons, preferably at least 16 carbons. The carbon chain is a saturated straight chain hydrocarbon. The hydrocarbon surfactant includes a carboxyl group. The carbon precursor comprises resorcinol, phenol resin, melamine-formaldehyde gel, poly(furfuryl alcohol), poly(acrylonitrile) or petroleum pitch. The hydrocarbon surfactant is a long chain carboxylic acid, preferably stearic acid. EXAMPLE - Iron polymeric complex solution (0.2 M) was prepared using iron powder (56 g), citric acid (193 g) and water (5 l). The iron-containing mixture was vigorously stirred and air purged in a glass reactor (10 l). After 24 hours, a clear greenish-yellow solution of a precursor solution was obtained. Resorcinol (61 g) and formaldehyde (90 g) were placed in a flask. The solution was stirred until resorcinol was fully dissolved. The precursor solution (500 ml) was slowly added under agitation. Polymerization was induced by slowly adding ammonium hydroxide (60 ml) with vigorous stirring, the pH of the resulting suspension was approximately 10. The slurry was cured at 80-90 degrees C for 3 hours. The solid was collected by filtration and dried in an oven at 75 degrees C for overnight. The pre-prepared polymer (50 g) was dispersed into methanol (30 ml). Then, stearic acid (10 g) was dissolved in methanol (20 ml) at 50 degrees C and added slowly to the polymer and heated at 68 degrees C with vigorous stirring for 5-10 hours. The methanol was removed by evaporation using a rotary evaporator. The stearic acid coated polymer was collected for further treatment. The stearic acid coated polymer was placed in crucibles and covered with a crucible plate and transferred to a furnace for carbonization. The carbonization process was conducted under ample amount of nitrogen flow and carried out at 1050 degrees C at 20 degrees C/minute, holded at 1050 degrees C for 5 hours, and cooled to room temperature. The carbonization yielded a carbon nanomaterial intermediate that included carbon nanospheres. The carbon nanomaterial intermediate was refluxed in nitric acid (5 M) for 6 hours followed by treating with hydrochloric acid (4 M) at 90 degrees C for 6 hours to obtain a purified carbon nanomaterial.