Abstract
Exceptionally large surface area and well-defined nanostructure are both critical in the field of nanoporous carbons for challenging energy and environmental issues. The pursuit of ultrahigh surface area while maintaining definite nanostructure remains a formidable challenge because extensive creation of pores will undoubtedly give rise to the damage of nanostructures, especially below 100 nm. Here we report that high surface area of up to 3,022 m2 g−1 can be achieved for hollow carbon nanospheres with an outer diameter of 69 nm by a simple carbonization procedure with carefully selected carbon precursors and carbonization conditions. The tailor-made pore structure of hollow carbon nanospheres enables target-oriented applications, as exemplified by their enhanced adsorption capability towards organic vapours, and electrochemical performances as electrodes for supercapacitors and sulphur host materials for lithium–sulphur batteries. The facile approach may open the doors for preparation of highly porous carbons with desired nanostructure for numerous applications.
Highlights
Large surface area and well-defined nanostructure are both critical in the field of nanoporous carbons for challenging energy and environmental issues
The hollow PACP nanospheres were directly carbonized in a furnace under protection of an inert gas to readily obtain the target Hollow carbon nanospheres (HCNs)
HCN-900-20H2R obtained at 900 °C for 20 h with a heating rate of 2 °C min À 1 has an outer diameter of 69 nm (Fig. 2c), which is obviously lower than that of PACP (106 nm; Fig. 2a and Supplementary Fig. 2)
Summary
Large surface area and well-defined nanostructure are both critical in the field of nanoporous carbons for challenging energy and environmental issues. Templating strategy involving hard/soft templates could be the most frequently used technique to prepare HCNs, which involves coating carbon precursor onto a predesigned solid spherical core template, carbonization, activation sometimes and removal of the template (Fig. 1a)[24,25,26] This strategy allows for fine control of hollow cores by selection of different template sizes. The HCNs demonstrate high uptake capacities towards environmentconcerned organic vapours and serve well as electrode materials for supercapacitive energy storage and cathode host materials for lithium–sulphur (Li–S) batteries These findings may open a new avenue for the design and construction of highly porous yet well-defined nanostructured carbon materials for challenging energy and environmental issues
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