Improved ion-diffusion performance by engineering an ordered mesoporous shell in hollow carbon nanospheres

A new kind of hollow carbon nanosphere with an ordered mesoporous shell structure is prepared and demonstrated to have improved performances in practical application areas involving fast ion transport.

Hypercrosslinked porous polymer materials: design, synthesis, and applications

Hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) are a series of permanent microporous polymer materials initially reported by Davankov, and have received an increasing level of research interest. In recent years, HCPs have experienced rapid growth due to their remarkable advantages such as diverse synthetic methods, easy functionalization, high surface area, low cost reagents and mild operating conditions. Judicious selection of monomers, appropriate length crosslinkers and optimized reaction conditions yielded a well-developed polymer framework with an adjusted porous topology. Post fabrication of the as developed network facilitates the incorporation of various chemical functionalities that may lead to interesting properties and enhance the selection toward a specific application. To date, numerous HCPs have been prepared by post-crosslinking polystyrene-based precursors, one-step self-polycondensation or external crosslinking strategies. The advent of these methodologies has prompted researchers to construct well-defined porous polymer networks with customized micromorphology and functionalities. In this review, we describe not only the basic synthetic principles and strategies of HCPs, but also the advancements in the structural and morphological study as well as the frontiers of potential applications in energy and environmental fields such as gas storage, carbon capture, removal of pollutants, molecular separation, catalysis, drug delivery, sensing etc.

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.

Construction of vesicle CdSe nano-semiconductors photocatalysts with improved photocatalytic activity: Enhanced photo induced carriers separation efficiency and mechanism insight

Visible-light-driven photocatalysis as a green technology has attracted a lot of attention due to its potential applications in environmental remediation. Vesicle CdSe nano-semiconductor photocatalyst are successfully prepared by a gas template method and characterized by a variety of methods. The vesicle CdSe nano-semiconductors display enhanced photocatalytic performance for the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride, the photodegradation rate of 78.824% was achieved by vesicle CdSe, which exhibited an increase of 31.779% compared to granular CdSe. Such an exceptional photocatalytic capability can be attributed to the unique structure of the vesicle CdSe nano-semiconductor with enhanced light absorption ability and excellent carrier transport capability. Meanwhile, the large surface area of the vesicle CdSe nano-semiconductor can increase the contact probability between catalyst and target and provide more surface-active centers. The photocatalytic mechanisms are analyzed by active species quenching. It indicates that h⁺ and O₂^- are the main active species which play a major role in catalyzing environmental toxic pollutants. Simultaneously, the vesicle CdSe nano-semiconductor had high efficiency and stability.

Fabrication and electrochemical performance of novel hollow microporous carbon nanospheres

A new class of hollow microporous carbon nanospheres with good electrochemical performances was fabricated through a facile hypercrosslinking strategy.

Novel hollow and yolk–shell structured periodic mesoporous polymer nanoparticles

Novel hollow and yolk–shell structured periodic mesoporous polymer nanoparticles were prepared by the development of an efficient reactive interface-guided co-assembly approach.

Multi-dimensional construction of a novel active yolk@conductive shell nanofiber web as a self-standing anode for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

A novel active yolk@conductive shell nanofiber web with a unique synergistic advantage of various hierarchical nanodimensional objects including the 0D monodisperse SiO2 yolks, the 1D continuous carbon shell and the 3D interconnected non-woven fabric web has been developed by an innovative multi-dimensional construction method, and thus demonstrates excellent electrochemical properties as a self-standing LIB anode.

Facile synthesis of ultrahigh-surface-area hollow carbon nanospheres for enhanced adsorption and energy storage

Exceptionally large surface area and well-defined nanostructure are both critical in the field of nanoporous carbons for challenging energy and environmental issues. The pursuit of ultrahigh surface area while maintaining definite nanostructure remains a formidable challenge because extensive creation of pores will undoubtedly give rise to the damage of nanostructures, especially below 100 nm. Here we report that high surface area of up to 3,022 m(2) g(-1) can be achieved for hollow carbon nanospheres with an outer diameter of 69 nm by a simple carbonization procedure with carefully selected carbon precursors and carbonization conditions. The tailor-made pore structure of hollow carbon nanospheres enables target-oriented applications, as exemplified by their enhanced adsorption capability towards organic vapours, and electrochemical performances as electrodes for supercapacitors and sulphur host materials for lithium-sulphur batteries. The facile approach may open the doors for preparation of highly porous carbons with desired nanostructure for numerous applications.