Cooperative Dual-Template Assembly of Bimodal Interconnected Mesoporous Carbon Nanospheres with Boosted Charge Transport

Abstract

Mesoporous materials have attracted great research attention since their first advent in 1990s; however, the self-assembly of soft micelles can generate only unary periodicity. A feasible strategy capable of building multinary pore structures remains scarcely explored due to huge synthetic difficulty. Herein, we explore a cooperative dual-template assembly route, which allows for compatible interaction of Pluronic P123 and L64 in solution, to successfully construct a type of mesoporous carbon nanospheres with bimodal mesopores. The key to such construction of hierarchical mesopores from a pure soft-template process without recruitment of a hard template mainly relies on the formation of composite micelles with both suitable mutual interactions and individually stabilized condensed states. The resultant mesoporous carbon spheres possess good uniformity in morphology and mesoporosity, including a mean particle size at ∼200 nm, a high surface area of 537 m2 g–1, and an interconnected bimodal mesopore size centered at 11.1 and 4.2 nm along with a massive amount of micropores. Moreover, this dual-template assembly strategy allows for precise structural regulation over the pore curvature and pore size through tailoring the reaction conditions. As a proof of concept, the fabricated bimodal mesoporous carbon, as an ammonium-ion battery anode, showcases excellent electrochemical performances owing to its permeable and gradient porous structure for fast mass and charge transfer. Our study underscores a facile and extendable toolbox for synthesizing complex or hierarchical mesostructures as advanced energy model materials.