A novel N-doped porous carbon microsphere composed of hollow carbon nanospheres

Abstract

A novel carbon microspheres composed of N-doped hollow carbon nanospheres was prepared by a newly developed three-step method. Firstly, poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate)/polypyrrole (PSBA/PPy) latex particles with core–shell structure were synthesized by the chemical oxidative polymerization of pyrrole in poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate) (PSBA) emulsion, then PSBA/PPy core–shell latex was dried by spray drying process. Finally, the dried PSBA/PPy particles were pyrolyzed under nitrogen atmosphere at 500–800 °C without activation process. It was found that nitrogen content could reach 7.62 wt% and large amount of micro-, meso- and macro-pores existed in this kind of carbon microsphere. The application of this carbon microsphere in CO2 capture was also explored.