Microporous Carbon Nanospheres Research Articles

In-situ formation of nitrogen doped microporous carbon nanospheres derived from polystyrene as lubricant additives for anti-wear and friction reduction

This study presents a nitrogen-doped microporous carbon nanospheres (N@MCNs) prepared by a facile polymerization–carbonization process using low-cost styrene. The N element in situ introduces polystyrene (PS) nanospheres via emulsion polymerization of styrene with cyanuric chloride as crosslinking agent, and then carbonization obtains N@MCNs. The as-prepared carbon nanospheres possess the complete spherical structure and adjustable nitrogen amount by controlling the relative proportion of tetrachloromethane and cyanuric chloride. The friction performance of N@MCNs as lubricating oil additives was surveyed utilizing the friction experiment of ball-disc structure. The results showed that N@MCNs exhibit superb reduction performance of friction and wear. When the addition of N@MCNs was 0.06 wt%, the friction coefficient of PAO-10 decreased from 0.188 to 0.105, and the wear volume reduced by 94.4%. The width and depth of wear marks of N@MCNs decreased by 49.2% and 94.5%, respectively. The carrying capacity of load was rocketed from 100 to 400 N concurrently. Through the analysis of the lubrication mechanism, the result manifested that the prepared N@MCNs enter clearance of the friction pair, transform the sliding friction into the mixed friction of sliding and rolling, and repair the contact surface through the repair effect. Furthermore, the tribochemical reaction between nanoparticles and friction pairs forms a protective film containing nitride and metal oxides, which can avert direct contact with the matrix and improve the tribological properties. This experiment showed that nitrogen-doped polystyrene-based carbon nanospheres prepared by in-situ doping are the promising materials for wear resistance and reducing friction. This preparing method can be ulteriorly expanded to multi-element co-permeable materials. Nitrogen and boron co-doped carbon nanospheres (B,N@MCNs) were prepared by mixed carbonization of N-enriched PS and boric acid, and exhibited high load carrying capacity and good tribological properties.

Self-Templated Formation of Carbon Nanotubes Interpenetrating Ordered Microporous Carbon Nanospheres for High-Performance Li-S Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are known as a prospective new generation of battery systems owing to their high energy density, low cost, non-toxicity, and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, several issues remain in the practical application of Li-S batteries, such as low sulfur usage, poor rate performance, and poor cycle stability. Ordered microporous carbon materials and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can effectively limit the diffusion of polysulfides (LiPSs) and have high electrical conductivity, respectively. Here, inspired by the evaporation of zinc at high temperatures, we constructed CNTs interpenetrating ordered microporous carbon nanospheres (CNTs/OMC NSs) by high-temperature calcination and used them as a sulfur host material. With the benefit from the excellent electrical conductivity of CNTs and OMC achieving uniform sulfur dispersion and effectively limiting LiPS dissolution, the S@CNTs/OMC NS cathodes show outstanding cycling stability (initial discharge capacity of 879 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C, maintained at 629 mAh g-1 for 500 cycles) and excellent rate performance (521 mAh g-1 at 5.0 C). Furthermore, the current study can serve as a significant reference for the synthesis of CNTs that interpenetrate various materials.

Facile synthesis of CeSe2@CNs nanostructure for enhanced water oxidation

Using a hydrothermal technique, we created a composite of cerium selenide incorporated carbon nanospheres (CeSe2@CNs) nanocomposite. The carbon nanospheres and CeSe2 agglomerated nanorods were also created for comparison studies. X-rays diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm are all utilized to describe the produced samples. The CeSe2 nanorods were introduced into the microporous hollow carbon nanospheres to create amorphous textured integrated CeSe2@CNs. This increased the intrinsic activity of CeSe2@CNs for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) along with the active electrocatalytic surface area. OER in 1 M KOH alkaline solution can be initiated by the highly applied electrocatalyst CeSe2@CNs at 1.51V vs RHE, and 10 mAcm−2 was obtained at 298 mV overpotential. Additionally, at 315 mV and 335 mV overpotentials, it was able to attain greater current densities of 50 and 80 mAcm−2. As opposed to this, integrated composite CeSe2@CNs have amazing stability and durability and can continuously produce O2 gas bubbles for 10 h without any deterioration in current density for constant 1000 CV cycles.

Nitrogen and phosphorous co-doped hierarchical meso—microporous carbon nanospheres with extraordinary lithium storage for high-performance lithium-ion capacitors

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs), consisting of a battery-like negative electrode and a capacitive porous-carbon positive electrode, deliver more than twice the energy density of electric double-layer capacitors. However, their wide application suffers from low energy density and reduced cycle life at high rates. Herein, hierarchical meso—microporous carbon nanospheres with a highly disordered structure and nitrogen/phosphorous co-doped properties were synthesized through a facile template method. Such hierarchical porous structure facilitates rapid ion transport, and the highly disordered structure and high heteroatom content provide abundant active sites for Li+ charge storage. Electrochemical experiments demonstrated that the carbon nanosphere anode delivers large reversible capability, greatly improves rate capability and exhibits excellent cycle stability. An LIC fabricated with the carbon nanosphere anode and an activated carbon cathode yields a high energy density of 103 W h kg−1, an extremely high power density of 44,630 W kg−1, and long-term cyclability of over 10,000 cycles. This work presents how structural control of carbon materials at the nano/atomic scale can significantly enhance electrochemical performance, enabling new opportunities for the design of high-performance energy-storage devices.

Microporous Carbon Nanospheres with Fast Sodium Storage Capability Enabled by Dominant Capacitive Behavior.

Hard carbon is considered one of the most promising anode candidates for sodium ion batteries but suffers from a moderate rate performance. Here, we design microporous carbon nanospheres using a novel hybrid monomer that simultaneously involves an organic moiety and an inorganic moiety as the starting unit. The inorganic moiety forms a continuous network, which serves as a 3D scaffold and a nanometer-scale template, then supports the off-collapse of the carbon skeleton and creates a well-developed microporous structure. In addition, the graphite microcrystal structure can be tailored by adjusting the heating treatment temperatures. The electrochemical study demonstrates that the microporous carbon nanospheres show dominant capacitive sodium storage behavior, thus presenting an outstanding rate performance. Even if a very high current density of 10 A g-1 is applied, the hard carbon anode can deliver a large capacity of 127 mAh g-1 with a considerable plateau capacity of 53 mAh g-1, which has rarely been obtained in previous publications. Besides, the carbon anode has a good cycling stability, and the capacity reached 210 mAh g-1 after 1000 cycles with a current density of 1 A g-1, showing no dramatic capacity loss.

Pebax-based mixed matrix membranes derived from microporous carbon nanospheres for permeable and selective CO2 separation

We investigated the use of microporous carbon nanospheres (CNs) as fillers to prepare mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for permeable and selective CO2 separation. CNs with a uniform size of 650 nm and unique amorphous structure were characterized by SEM and XRD. The N content of CNs with different carbonization temperatures was determined by XPS. The surface area and micropore size of the samples could be easily adjusted by varying the carbonization temperature; in particular, increasing the carbonization temperature improved both parameters. At 600 °C, the particles (CNs-600) exhibited a higher N content and narrower micropores, which ensured higher affinity and enhanced capture of CO2 molecules. Thus, CNs-600/Pebax MMMs exhibited superior CO2 separation performances compared to other CNs-based MMMs. Furthermore, when the loading of CNs-600 was 0.5 wt%, the MMMs exhibited the best CO2/N2 separation properties, with a 39.51% improvement compared to pristine Pebax membranes. These outstanding performances are attributed to the fact that microporous CNs with accessible inner channels can provide a low-resistance transport pathway to gas molecules. Moreover, the strong interaction between CO2 and the pore walls, along with the high N content, enabled an effective separation of CO2 from other gas molecules. Importantly, the CNs-600/Pebax MMMs displayed superior CO2/N2 selectivity compared to previously reported Pebax-based MMMs with other fillers. The proposed CNs, with microporous structure and high N content, may represent a promising alternative for the fillers of MMMs.

Encapsulation of sulfur within well-defined size-tunable ultrasmall carbon nanospheres for superior high-rate and long-stability Li–S batteries

A range of ultrasmall microporous carbon nanospheres (ACNS5, ACNS10, ACNS20, and ACNS40) with well-defined tunable diameters ranging from 5 to 40 nm has been designed and employed as sulfur hosts for lithium-sulfur batteries. Sulfur has been encapsulated within their intra-sphere micropores in forms of both chain-like S2-4 (in small micropores with d < 1 nm) and cyclic S8 (in micropores with 1 < d < 2 nm). With their well-defined ultrasmall diameters, these carbon nanospheres have enabled a systematic study on the size effects of microporous carbons on the electrochemical performances of the sulfur composite cathodes. With the decrease of the nanosphere diameter from 40 to 5 nm, it is demonstrated that both the rate performance and cyclic stability of the cathodes are significantly enhanced as a result of improved electrolyte transport within the shortened intra-sphere micropores as well as abundant large inter-sphere meso-/macropores. In combination with a polysulfide-trapping poly (ionic liquid) (PDADMA-T) as the binder, we have further demonstrated that S@ACNS5 electrode exhibits an ultrahigh initial capacity of 1420 mAh g−1 at 0.1C and a superior rate performance with 50% (710 mAh g−1) of capacity retention at 5C. From the cycling test, an excellent capacity retention of 84% has been achieved at 1C even after 1000 cycles with only 0.016% capacity loss per cycle, confirming its outstanding cyclic stability.

Effect of Surfactant Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone on the Properties of Microporous Carbon Nanospheres Reinforced Magnesium Matrix Composites.

Microporous carbon nanospheres (PCNS)-reinforced magnesium (Mg) composites were prepared using polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as surfactant and PCNS as reinforcement. The influence of PVP treatment and the effectiveness of PCNS on the mechanical properties of Mg-based composites were investigated. The results show that the PCNS can enhance the properties of the Mg matrix. Moreover, the PVP can effectively improve the dispersion of PCNS in the Mg matrix but had a negative influence on the tensile properties of composites. The MgO films with high tensile strength were produced between matrix and reinforcement after removing PVP, which effectively promotes the interface compatibility and improves the properties of the composite. The tensile yield strength and specific strength of PCNS-reinforced Mg matrix composite exhibited 177 MPa and 102.4 × 103 N∙m/kg, respectively, which were 77% and 78% higher than those of the Mg matrix.

A simple synthesis of highly ordered microporous carbon nanospheres for high performance potassium-ion batteries

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are considered as a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for low cost and large-scale application. However, owing to the large size of K ions, traditional carbon materials still undergo poor rate performance, low capacity and unsatisfied cycling life. Herein, we design and synthesize highly ordered microporous carbon nanospheres (OMCNSs) for the first time through a very simple method. In PIBs, OMCNSs negative electrode deliver an ultrahigh capacity of 256.9 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 after 500 cycles, outstanding rate performance of 156.6 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1 after 2000 cycles. Furthermore, when coupled with potassium Prussian blue positive electrode, the potassium-ion full cells also display outstanding electrochemical performance, highlighting the practicability of OMCNSs. The excellent electrochemical performance is ascribed to the highly ordered micropores, which increase the action of physical adsorption and trap K+ stably.

High surface N-/O-doped microporous carbons for stable supercapacitor and carbon dioxide sorption applications

Abstract A series of N-/O-doped microporous carbon materials are prepared through the KOH activation of N-doped microporous carbon nanospheres (MCNs) directly prepared from the carbonization of as-prepared mesoporous silica nanospheres (MSNs). Different amounts of KOH are employed to prepare KOH-activated MCNs: MCN–nKOH (where n denotes the weight ratio of KOH to MCN). Compared to nonactivated N-doped MCN, the N-/O-doped MCN–nKOH series reveal superior gas uptake abilities. The MCN–2KOH sorbs 496.8 cm3 g−1 (22.17 mmol g−1) of CO2 at 196 K, 2.12 wt% (10.50 mmol g−1) of H2 at 77 K, and 185.5 cm3 g−1 (8.27 mmol g−1) of CH4 at 196 K. The electrochemical capacitive properties are evaluated by both 3-electrode and 2-electrode measurements. Compared to MCN, the MCN–nKOHs displays enhanced rate capabilities of capacitance. MCN–2KOH shows the highest specific capacitance of 459.6 F g−1 and maximum specific energy of 37.6 Wh kg−1 at 0.1 A g−1. It also exhibits high specific power of 53323 W kg−1 at 120 A g−1. The MCN–nKOH electrodes show superior electrochemical cycling stabilities up to 30000 cycles. The symmetric 2-electrode MCN–2KOH supercapacitor also displays high capacitance of 322.6 F g−1 and energy density of 14.8 Wh kg−1 at 0.1 A g−1.

Revealing the Rapid Electrocatalytic Behavior of Ultrafine Amorphous Defective Nb2O5–x Nanocluster toward Superior Li–S Performance

The notorious shuttling behaviors and sluggish conversion kinetics of the intermediate lithium polysulfides (LPS) are hindering the practical application of lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Herein, an ultrafine, amorphous and oxygen-deficient niobium pentoxide nanocluster embedded in microporous carbon nanospheres (A-Nb2O5-x@MCS) was developed as multifunctional sulfur immobilizer and promoter toward superior shuttle inhibition and conversion catalyzation of LPS. The A-Nb2O5-x nanocluster implanted framework uniformizes sulfur distribution, exposes vast active interfaces and offers reduced ion/electron transportation pathway for expedited redox reaction. Moreover, the low crystallinity feature of A-Nb2O5-x manipulates the LPS chemical affinity while the defect chemistry enhances the intrinsic conductivity and catalytic activity for rapid electrochemical conversions. Attributed to these unique superiorities, A-Nb2O5-x@MCS enables remarkable Li-S battery performances, i.e., high areal capacity of 6.62 mAh cm-2 under high sulfur loading and low electrolyte/sulfur ratio, superb rate capability and outstanding cyclability over 1200 cycles with ultra-low capacity fading rate of 0.024 % per cycle. This work provides a synergistic regulation on crystallinity and oxygen-deficiency towards rapid and durable sulfur electrochemistry, holding a great promise in developing practically viable Li-S batteries and enlightening material engineering in related energy storage and conversion areas.

Reasonable design and sifting of microporous carbon nanosphere-based surface molecularly imprinted polymer for selective removal of phenol from wastewater

Highly selective surface molecularly imprinted polymer (SMIP) was prepared on glucose-derived microporous carbon nanospheres (GMCNs) by surface molecular imprinting technology for the removal of phenol from wastewater. GMCNs with rich pore structure and surface oxygenic functional groups were adopted as support materials, on which the active layers were constructed by grafting silane coupling agent 3-(methacryloyloxy) propyltrimethoxysilane. Then with phenol as template molecule, different types and amounts of functional monomer (including methacrylic acid and 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP)) were screened for optimizing imprinting conditions suitable for phenol adsorption, and a series of SMIP was obtained through crosslinking polymerization. The adsorption behaviors of SMIP were evaluated by UV spectrophotometry. The results show that, when 4-VP is used as functional monomer, the resultant 4-VP/SMIP exhibites an excellent adsorption capacity of 85.72 mg g−1. The relative selectivity factor for phenol against hydroquinone, p-nitrophenol and p-tert-butylphenol is 8.38, 7.96 and 6.67, respectively, indicating outstanding adsorption capacity and selectivity of 4-VP/SMIP. The pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir‒Freundlich model fit better than other models for the adsorption of phenol. 4-VP/SMIP is promising for selective removal and enrichment recovery towards phenol in wastewater.

Novel activated N-doped hollow microporous carbon nanospheres from pyrrole-based hyper-crosslinking polystyrene for supercapacitors

Here, pyrrole-based hollow microporous organic nanospheres (Py-HMONs) were firstly synthesized through co-hyper-cross-linking of pyrrole and polylactide-b-polystyrene (PLA-b-PS) diblock copolymers based on Scholl reaction. The effect of diblock copolymers and pyrrole amount on the morphology of Py-HMONs was discussed. Py-HMONs can be further transformed into activated N-doped hollow microporous carbon nanospheres (AN-HMCNs) with enhanced high surface area (1347 m2 g−1) by a simply KOH-activated pyrolyzing treatment. Owing to high surface area, unique hollow spherical structure and nitrogen heteratom doping, the obtained AN-HMCNs as supercapacitor electrodes deliver a high specific capacitance of 395 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1. More remarkably, AN-HMCNs electrodes exhibit outstanding cycling stability with almost no decrease over 10000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1. This work provide a new avenue to prepare activated hollow porous carbon nanospheres with high surface area and nitrogen-doping for high-performance supercapacitor applications.

P-modified microporous carbon nanospheres for direct propane dehydrogenation reactions

In this work, a variety of microporous carbon nanospheres (MCNs) were synthesized by the in-situ approach, and used as metal-free catalysts for direct propane dehydrogenation (DPDH). Pristine MCNs showed excellent catalytic performances for DPDH with initial propane conversion of 26% and propylene selectivity of 87%–88%. Phosphorus (P) modifications with different P sources put different effects on the catalytic performances of MCNs in DPDH, i.e., triethyl phosphate exhibited a positive, while (NH4)2HPO4 and H3PO4 showed a negative effect on the catalytic performances for the in-situ doping carbon catalysts. The amount of surface oxygenic groups and the graphitization extent of carbon materials are two important factors influencing the catalytic performances of MCNs in DPDH. These results indicate that P modification is an effective way to adjust the catalytic performances of MCNs in DPDH. While, except the dopant itself, the interaction between the dopant and other materials during the synthesis process also influences the surface oxygenic groups and the graphitization degree of carbon materials.

Synthesis of carbon nanospheres and piezoresistive study of carbon nanospheres-PEDOT:PSS nanocomposite flexible thin film for strain sensing applications

Microporous carbon nanospheres were synthesized using the single step pyrolysis method with oil palm leaves as a precursor. Non-hazardous bio-wastes from oil palm leaves were used for pyrolysis which was carried out at 700 °C in the nitrogen atmosphere. Nanocomposites consisting of different concentrations of carbon nanospheres(0.025 wt%, 0.05 wt%, 0.075 wt%, 0.1 wt%) and poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polymerized with poly(4-styrenesulfonate) polymer were prepared and were spin coated on flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrates to form nanocomposite thin films. These nanocomposite thin films were characterized for their nanostructure and elemental composition. The films were subjected to incremental strain from 0 to 6% at the speed of 0.2 mm min−1 and subsequently evaluated for their piezoresistive response. The carbon nanospheres-poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(4-styrenesulfonate) thin film with 0.05 wt% of carbon nanospheres(which is the wt% of carbon nanospheres close to the percolation threshold) in poly(3, 4-ethylene dioxythiophene) poly(4-styrene sulfonate) exhibited highest gauge factor of 34.57 with correlation coefficient 0.869 96 at 6% strain and the highest conductivity of 39.27 S m−1 for 0.1 wt% of carbon nanospheres was achieved. Hence, the fabricated thin film was found to be suitable in piezoresistive flexible strain sensing applications.

Nitrogen doped microporous carbon nanospheres derived from chitin nanogels as attractive materials for supercapacitors.

N-doped porous carbon nanospheres were fabricated directly by pyrolyzing chitin nanogels, which were facilely prepared by mechanical agitation induced sol–gel transition of chitin solution in NaOH/urea solvent. The resulting carbon nanospheres displayed ordered micropores (centered at ∼0.6 nm) and high BET surface area of up to 1363 m2 g−1, which is substantially larger than that of the carbons from raw chitin (600 m2 g−1). In addition, the carbon nanospheres retained a nitrogen content of 3.2% and excellent conductivity. Consequently, supercapacitor electrodes prepared from the carbon nanospheres pyrolyzed at 800 °C showed a specific capacitance as high as 192 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 and impressive rate capability (81% retention at 10 A g−1). When assembled in a symmetrical two-electrode cell, N-doped porous carbon nanospheres demonstrated excellent cycling stability both in aqueous and organic electrolytes (95% retention after 10 000 cycles at 10 A g−1), together with outstanding energy density of 5.1 W h kg−1 at the power density of 2364.9 W kg−1. This work introduces a novel and efficient method to prepared N-doped porous carbon nanospheres directly from chitin and demonstrates the great potential of utilization of abundant polymers from nature in power storage.

RETRACTED: Carbonization-dependent nitrogen-doped hollow porous carbon nanospheres synthesis and electrochemical study for supercapacitors

Abstract In this paper, a nitrogen-doped hollow microporous carbon nanospheres was synthesized via the combination of hyper-crosslinking mediated self-assembly and further pyrolysis using polylactide-b-polystyrene (PLA-b-PS) copolymers and aniline monomers as precursor. The pore structure and the correlative electrochemical performance of nitrogen-doped hollow microporous carbon nanospheres were affected by the molar mass ratio of aniline and PS in block copolymers and the carbonization conditions. The electrochemical measurements results showed that the obtained PLA 150 -PS 250 -N 4 -900-10H sample with nitrogen content of 3.57% and the BET surface area of 945 m 2 g −1 displays the best capacitance performance. At a current density of 1.0 Ag −1 , the resultant specific capacitance is 250 Fg −1 . In addition, it also exhibits high capacitance retention of ~98% after charging−discharging 1500 times at 25 Ag −1 . The results demonstrate the nitrogen-doped hollow microporous carbon nanospheres can be used as promising supercapacitor electrode materials for high performance energy storage devices.

Highly N-doped microporous carbon nanospheres with high energy storage and conversion efficiency

Porous carbon spheres (CSs) have distinct advantages in energy storage and conversion applications. We report the preparation of highly monodisperse N-doped microporous CSs through the carbonization of polystyrene-based polymer spheres and subsequent activation. The N-doped microporous CSs have a remarkably high N-doping content, over 10%, and high BET surface area of 884.9 m2 g−1. We characterize the synergistic effects of the micropores and N doping on the energy storage performance of a supercapacitor electrode consisting of the CSs and on the performance in an electrocatalytic reaction of a CS counter electrode in a photovoltaic cell. The N-doped microporous CSs exhibit a maximum capacitance of 373 F g−1 at a current density of 0.2 Ag−1, a high capacitance retention up to 62% with a 10-fold increase in current density, and excellent stability over 10,000 charge/discharge cycles. A counter electrode consisting of N-doped microporous CSs was found to exhibit superior electrocatalytic behavior to an electrode consisting of conventional Pt nanoparticles. These CSs derived from polymer spheres synthesized by addition polymerization will be new platform materials with high electrochemical performance.

Hyper-Cross-Linking Mediated Self-Assembly Strategy To Synthesize Hollow Microporous Organic Nanospheres.

Hollow microporous organic nanospheres (H-MONs) are prepared by using polylactide-b-polystyrene diblock copolymers (PLA-b-PS) as the precursor via a hyper-cross-linking mediated self-assembly strategy, in which the hyper-cross-linking PS block forms the microporous organic shell framework, and the degradable PLA block produces the hollow mesoporous core structure. The formation mechanism, morphology, and porosity parameters of the resulting H-MONs are systematically investigated. Moreover, based on the hyper-cross-linking generated rigid microporous organic frameworks, hollow microporous carbon nanospheres (H-MCNs) can be achieved by further pyrolysis progress. The obtained H-MCNs as electrode materials of a supercapacitor exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with specific capacitances of up to 145 F g-1 at 0.2 A g-1, with almost no capacitance loss even after 5000 cycles at 10 A g-1. More especially, H-MONs can be further act as "nanoreactors" for the synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles within hollow cores to construct magnetic core-shell Fe3O4@H-MONs nanocomposite materials. Our strategy represents a new avenue for the preparation of hollow morphology-controlled microporous organic polymers with various potential applications.

New Polymer Colloidal and Carbon Nanospheres: Stabilizing Ultrasmall Metal Nanoparticles for Solvent-Free Catalysis

Herein, we report the synthesis of new colloidal polydiaminopyridine (PDAP) nanospheres with uniform particle size tuned from 76 to 331 nm. The polymer colloidal nanospheres and thin films assembled by the nanospheres exhibit amphiphilic or superhydrophilic properties, originated from the different polymer surfactants. In addition, the polymer nanospheres can be easily carbonized into microporous carbon nanospheres with high N content up to 24 wt %, thus enabling a preferred basicity for CO2 adsorption. As-synthesized PDAP show good compatibility that can not only encapsulate typical nanoparticles to form core–shell composite nanospheres but also stabilize noble metal ions to obtain ultrasmall metal nanoparticles (e.g., Pd and Au) during the thermal reduction process by the nitrogen sites from sphere frameworks. The nanocomplex Pd/PDAP-500 shows exceptional activity and high selectivity in the solvent-free oxidation of alcohols with O2.