The present disclosure relates to methods for depositing vertically oriented carbon nanowalls (CNWs) using non-equilibrium gases such as gaseous plasma. Methods are disclosed for rapid deposition of uniformly distributed nanowalls on large surfaces of substrates using ablation of bulk carbon materials by reactive gaseous species, formation of oxidized carbon-containing gaseous molecules, ionization of said molecules and interacting said molecules, neutral or positively charged, with a substrate. The CNWs prepared are useful in different applications such as fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, photovoltaic devices and sensors of specific gaseous molecules.