Versatile Nanoemulsion Assembly Approach to Synthesize Functional Mesoporous Carbon Nanospheres with Tunable Pore Sizes and Architectures

Abstract

Functional mesoporous carbons have attracted significant scientific and technological interest owning to their fascinating and excellent properties. However, controlled synthesis of functional mesoporous carbons with large tunable pore sizes, small particle size, well-designed functionalities, and uniform morphology is still a great challenge. Herein, we report a versatile nanoemulsion assembly approach to prepare Ndoped mesoporous carbon nanospheres with high uniformity and large tunable pore sizes (5−37 nm). We show that the organic molecules (e.g., 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, TMB) not only play an important role in the evolution of pore sizes but also significantly affect the interfacial interaction between soft templates and carbon precursors. As a result, a welldefined Pluronic F127/TMB/dopamine nanoemulsion can be facilely obtained in the ethanol/water system, which directs the polymerization of dopamine into highly uniform polymer nanospheres and their derived N-doped carbon nanospheres with diversely novel structures such as smooth, golf ball, multichambered, and dendritic nanospheres. The resultant uniform dendritic mesoporous carbon nanospheres show an ultralarge pore size (∼37 nm), small particle size (∼128 nm), high surface area (∼635 m 2 g −1 ), and abundant N content (∼6.8 wt %), which deliver high current density and excellent durability toward oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline solution.

Cation‐Modulated HER and OER Activities of Hierarchical VOOH Hollow Architectures for High‐Efficiency and Stable Overall Water Splitting

“…Second, partially overlapped of layered areas can be distinguished as marked with two different dashed lines in color, according to the different contrast and lattice direction. Third, numerous lattice defects with the diameter of ≈5 nm (marked by red circle) are disclosed, meaning more active sites exposure, which would be beneficial for the enhanced catalytic performance . Besides, the ring‐like mode in the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern also confirms the presence of polycrystalline orthorhombic γ‐FeOOH, matching well with the results of powder XRD (Figure a).…”

Synthesis Strategies of Porous Carbon for Supercapacitor Applications

“…A successful soft template must satisfy several important requirements:120 1) the ability to assemble into nanostructures, 2) inclusion of at least one component can turn into micro‐ or mesopores, and 3) sustaining the soft‐template porogens before the formation of the carbon skeleton. According to these basic principles, the soft templates like polystyrene‐ b ‐poly(4‐vinylpyridine) (PS‐P4VP),146 the poly(ethylene oxide)‐ b ‐poly(propylene oxide)‐ b ‐poly(‐ethylene oxide) (PEO‐PPO‐PEO) (F127,147–149 F108,150 and P123149,151) and some surfactants have been developed rapidly.…”

“…With the enhanced interaction between resol and soft template, the as‐prepared ordered cubic mesoporous carbon exhibited an SSA of 637 m 2 g −1 and a pore volume of 0.32 cm 3 g −1 which endows it a specific capacitance of 159 F g −1 at 10 mV s −1 . Peng et al explored a synthesis route to fabricate a series of highly uniform polymer nanospheres, with various surface morphologies (smooth, golf ball type, multichambered, and dendritic nanospheres) ( Figure a) 147. In this synthesis route, F127 was employed as a soft template and the organic molecule, 1,3,5‐trimethylbenzene, was used to affect the interfacial interaction between the soft templates and carbon precursors.…”

“…a) Versatile nanoemulsion assembly approach to synthesize functional mesoporous carbons. Reproduced with permission 147. Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.…”

A Yolk–Shell‐Structured FePO4 Cathode for High‐Rate and Long‐Cycling Sodium‐Ion Batteries

“…Such mesoporous nanoyolks may facilitate the rapid infiltration of electrolyte into FePO 4 YSNSs. [25] The elemental mapping measurement discloses the homogeneous elemental distributions of Fe, P, and O within FePO 4 YSNSs (Figure 1 h-k).…”