Monolayer carbon nanoshells by pyrolysis of organics

Abstract

Monolayer carbon materials, including monolayer graphene, carbon nanohorn, single-wall nanotube, monolayer giant fullerenes and monolayer amorphous carbon, have been attracting great interest due to their unique physicochemical properties, and new methods for facile and large scale preparation of monolayer carbons are challenging and of great importance. Herein, N-P-doped monolayer carbon foam were prepared by a direct pyrolysis method. The aerogel-like carbon foam was composed of connected and/or fused monolayer carbon nanoshells with the size of 2−6 nm, and the hierarchically porous structure gave rise to an extremely large surface area of 2570 m2 g−1. The carbon foam was preliminarily tested as catalyst support and negative electrode material for lithium ion battery and exhibited good performance. This study would inspire further study on formation mechanism of monolayer carbon, as well as modification and functionalization of the monolayer carbon nanoshells for application in catalysis and energy conversion and storage.