We have established a facile and generalizable "silica-assisted" synthesis for diverse carbon spheres-a category that covers mesoporous carbon nanospheres, hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres, and yolk-shell mesoporous carbon nanospheres-by using phenolic resols as a polymer precursor, silicate oligomers as an inorganic precursor, and hexadecyl trimethylammoniumchloride as a template. The part...

Lignosulfonate/poly(2-ethylaniline) (LS-PEA) composite nanospheres were prepared via in situ polymerization of 2-ethylaniline (EA) with lignosulfonate (LS) as a dispersant. LS-PEA nanospheres with an average diameter of 155 nm were obtained at an optimal LS concentration of 20 wt.%. Subsequently, nitrogen-containing carbon nanospheres were fabricated via direct pyrolysis of the LS-PEA composite...

Carbon nanospheres with distinguishable microstructure were prepared by carbonization and subsequent KOH activation of F108/resorcinol-formaldehyde composites. The dosage of triblock copolymer Pluronic F108 is crucial to the microstructure differences. With the adding of F108, the polydisperse carbon nanospheres (PCNS) with microporous structure, monodisperse carbon nanospheres (MCNS) with hier...

Carbon nanospheres with a high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area were fabricated via the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PAN-PMMA) core-shell nanoparticles. Firstly, PAN-PMMA nanoparticles at high concentration and low surfactant content were controllably synthesized by a two-stage azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN)-initiated semicontinuous emulsion polymer...

Carbon is one of the most important materials extensively used in industry and our daily life. Crystalline carbon materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene possess ultrahigh strength and toughness. In contrast, amorphous carbon is known to be very brittle and can sustain little compressive deformation. Inspired by biological shells and honeycomb-like cellular structures in nature, we intr...

UNLABELLED A newly developed route for the synthesis of hollow carbon nanospheres without introducing template under hydrothermal conditions was reported. Hollow carbon nanospheres with the diameter of about 100 nm were synthesized using alginate as reagent only. Many instruments were applied to characterize the morphologies and structures of carbon hollow nanospheres, such as XRD, TEM, and Ram...

Uniform carbon-coated MoO(2) nanospheres assembled from small primary nanocrystals have been synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method followed by thermal annealing. Because of the desirable structural features, these core-shell MoO(2)@carbon nanospheres exhibit significantly improved electrochemical performance for high-rate reversible lithium storage.

Polydopamine-derived carbon (C-PDA) nanospheres embedded with zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) are synthesized by in situ polymerization of dopamine with zinc and iron species followed by carbonization. The composite nanospheres contain ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles ∼8 nm in size well dispersed in porous C-PDA. The unique structure and morphology endow the nanospheres with excellent rate capability and cycling s...

A novel approach to fabricate highly graphitic carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), metal/graphitic-shell nanocrystals and hollow carbon nanospheres (HCNSs) in a very short time is demonstrated.

Hierarchical mesoporous yolk-shell structured carbon nanospheres (YSCNs) with an ordered mesoporous carbon core and a microporous carbon shell show excellent electrochemical performance with a maximal specific capacitance of 159 F g(-1).