Abstract
The assembly of superstructures from building blocks is of fundamental importance for engineering materials with distinct morphologies and properties, and deepening our understanding of self-assembly processes in nature. Up to now, it is still a great challenge in materials science to construct multiple-component superstructure with unprecedented architectural complexity and symmetry from molecular. Here, we demonstrate an improved one-pot hydrothermal carbonization of biomass strategy that is capable of fabricating unprecedented asymmetric carbonaceous bivalve-like superstructures with in suit generated solid particles and ordered porous polymers as two kinds of building blocks. In our system, different building blocks can be controllably generated, and they will assemble into complex superstructures through a proposed “cooperative assembly of particles and ordered porous polymers” mechanism. We believe that this assembly principle will open up new potential fields for the synthesis of superstructures with diverse morphologies, compositions, and properties.
Highlights
Organized assembly of simple building blocks into complex superstructures is of both scientific and technological importance for designing materials with specific morphologies and distinct properties [1,2,3]
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that asymmetric carbonaceous bivalve-like superstructures (ACBSs) are homogenous in large area (Figure 1(a), Figure S1A) and composed of two linked and hexagonal platelets with slight curvature (Figure 1(b), Figure S1B), which is similar to natural bivalves (inside Figure 1(b))
Close observation at a higher magnification reveals that ordered porous polymers (OPPs) coat on the external surface of ACBSs (Figures 1(d), 1(g), and 1(j)), which is in line with magnified transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image (Figure S1D)
Summary
Organized assembly of simple building blocks into complex superstructures is of both scientific and technological importance for designing materials with specific morphologies and distinct properties [1,2,3]. Xylose was used as carbon precursor, triblock copolymer Pluronic F127 (EO106PO70-EO106, Mw = 12600) and poly (4-styrenesulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) sodium salt (PSSMA) were used as structure-directing agents, and sulfuric acid was used as both a catalyst and a mediator This strategy enables the controlled generation of carbonaceous solid particles and ordered porous polymers (OPPs) as two kinds of building blocks. Their cooperative assembly results in complex ACBSs as solid particles tend to aggregate to spherical clusters and OPPs are inclined to form hexagonal morphology coated on particles. We speculate that this assembly principle would dramatically expand the variety of superstructures and create unprecedented architectures
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