“Dissolution-reassembly” for N-doped hollow micro/meso-carbon spheres with high supercapacitor performance

Abstract

Herein, we report a “dissolution-reassembly” approach for preparation of N-doped hollow carbon spheres with mesoporous/microporous composite structure (H(Micro/Meso)CS). Basing on the compositional inhomogeneity inside the nanospheres of 3-aminophenol/formaldehyde (3-AF) polymerization, the internal 3-AF oligomer with low-molecular-weight is dissolved by acetone to form cavity. Then the dispersive 3-AF oligomer reassemble with silica oligomer as pore-forming agent and cetyltrimethyl-ammonium bromide as surfactant to form a mesoporous outer shell. In addition, the amount of acetone has a great influence on the morphology and structure of H(Micro/Meso)CS. The obtained H(Micro/Meso)CS shows uniform spherical and microporous/mesoporous shell structure and has a high specific capacity and excellent high rate capability.