“…In 2015 and 2017, IBM Zurich confirmed the island architecture by obtaining atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) images of asphaltene molecules. , Asphaltenes are soluble in toluene and chloroform and insoluble in linear alkanes, including n -heptane and n -hexane. , The richness in sp 2 -hybridization of carbon species and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in the chemical structures of asphaltenes ease the cross-linking of these molecules. , The development of porous carbon nanosheets with a certain level of graphitization obtained from asphaltenes, a cheap and abundant by-product, for mass production might have significance for both the environment and crude oil industry . Several reports have explained the synthesis of nanoporous carbonized asphaltenes. ,, The results obtained by using asphaltenes were either low-surface-area carbon such as 1590 and 1717 m 2 /g, or a costly modification procedure tested in the synthetic steps to augment the surface area of the carbonized material. − In carbonizing asphaltenes, an important aspect, as revealed by AFM imaging, is that, depending on the origin, the asphaltene structure presents a different number of fused aromatic rings and different types of pentagonal rings …”