In order to make polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fluidic, acrylonitrile telomer (ANT) is synthesized by radical telomerization and used as a nitrogen and carbon precursor to prepare a non-noble oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst. This fluidic precursor greatly increases the contact between Fe salt aggregates and the polymer so that more active sites are formed during stabilization and carbonization. Such prepared catalysts and the commercial Pt/C catalyst have comparable ORR performance and stability.

A combination of ionothermal synthesis and hot-injection techniques leads to novel nanocarbons made from organic solvents. Controlled addition of commonly used organic solvents into a hot ZnCl2 melt gives rise to spherical, sheetlike, and branched nanofibrous carbon nanoparticles with surprisingly high carbon efficiency. When heteroatom-containing solvents were used, the doping levels reach up to 14 wt. % nitrogen and 13 wt. % sulfur. Materials with high surface areas and large pore volumes of solvent carbons as high as 1666 m(2)  g(-1) and 2.80 cm(3)  g(-1) in addition to CO2 adsorption capacities of 4.13 mmol g(-1) at 273 K and 1 bar can be obtained. The new method works not only for pure carbon materials, but was also extended for the synthesis of carbon/inorganic nanocomposites. ZnS@C, Ni@C, and Co@C were successfully prepared with this straightforward procedure. The obtained Ni@C nanocomposites perform well in the electrocatalytic water oxidation, comparable with commercial noble-metal catalysts.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives with well-defined structures and compositions show great potential for wide applications such as sensors, catalysis, energy storage, and conversion, etc. However, poor electric conductivity and large volume expansion are main obstacles for their utilization in energy storage, e.g., lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. Herein, a facile strategy is proposed for embedding the MOFs, e.g., ZIF-67 and MIL-88 into polyacrylonitrile fibers, which is further used as a template to build a 3D interconnected conductive carbon necklace paper. Owing to the unique structure features of good electric conductivity, interconnected frameworks, electroactive reservoir, and dual dopants, the obtained flexible electrodes with no additives exhibit high specific capacities, good rate capability, and prolonged cycling stability. The hollow dodecahedral ZIF-67 derived carbon necklace paper delivers a high specific capacity of 1200 mAh g and superior stability of more than 400 cycles without capacity decay. Moreover, the spindle-like MIL-88 derived carbon necklace paper shows a high reversible capacity of 980 mAh g . Their unique 3D interconnected structure and outstanding electrochemical performance pave the way for extending the MOF-based interweaving materials toward potential applications in portable and wearable electronic devices.