Facile synthesis of hydrogenated carbon nanospheres with a graphite-like ordered carbon structure

Abstract

We report a synthesis of hydrogenated carbon nanospheres (HCNSs) via a facile solvothermal route at low temperatures (60-100 °C), using CHCl3 as the carbon source and potassium (K) as the reductant. Selective cleavage of the relatively lower stable C-Cl bonds (compared to C-H bonds) of the carbon precursor (CHCl3) by K metal results in the growth of HCNSs. The diameter of HCNSs ranges from 40 to 90 nm. The HCNSs have a graphite-like ordered carbon structure in spite of their high degree of hydrogenation. The HCNSs exhibit an average Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 43 m(2) g(-1), containing a small amount of mesopores and macropores in the structure. The nanospheres' sample as an anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) has been studied. It exhibits a high discharge capacity (3539 mA h g(-1) in the first cycle, 978 mA h g(-1) after 50 cycles) and good cycling stability, demonstrating advantages as a promising candidate for anode materials in LIBs. The high capacity of the HCNSs is due to their unique nanostructures and high percentage hydrogenation, as well as hydrogenation induced structural defects.

Facile Synthesis of Nitrogen and Sulfur Dual-doped Hierarchical Micro/mesoporous Carbon Foams as Efficient Metal-free Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

“…Besides, the specific surface area using the BET equation is found to be 133.56 m 2 g -1 , the total pore volume, the average adsorption pore size being 0.11 cm 3 g -1 and 3.3 nm, respectively. The BET surface area is much higher than that of carbon-based nanomaterials, such as doped graphene nanosheets and hydrogenated carbon nanospheres [46,47]. The large surface area and mesoporous network can improve the transport of educts and products formed on the surface of catalysts, thereby increasing the performance of the catalysts and lowering the total cost of fuel cell systems [26,28].…”

Synthesis of grape-like carbon nanospheres and their application as photocatalyst and electrocatalyst

“…The main peak at 2ș = 25.6° corresponds to the (002) diffraction plane of hexagonal graphite [17,18]. The broadening of the peaks in X-ray diffraction pattern of CNS indicates the disorder and turbostratic structure of the graphite [18,21,23]. Moreover, the indistinguishability of the (100) and (101) peaks centred at 43.7° also reflects the presence of disorderness in the structure [18].…”

“…During high-temperature treatment, the graphite sheets usually bend that follow the curvature of the sphere in order to minimize their energy with the formation of dangling bonds on their surface [17,18]. Furthermore, CNS with better thermal stability, better conductivity, low density, large void space fraction with defects in the form of dangling bonds brought about a stronger catalyst support in the adsorbents and fuel cell applications [16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…As a result of it, the accessibility of reactants to Pt nanoparticles enhanced which increases the Pt utilisation. Hence this kind of system decreases the transfer resistance of the reactants and intermediate products which provide better charge transport phenomena and more effective active sites for catalytic reactions[17,21, 55].Hence, by platinizing the CNS to Pt/CNS, the ORR performance is significantly improved and it enhances the power output of energy storage devices, which is limited on the cathode side.In this work, synthesis of interconnected carbon nanospheres with uniform spherical morphology has been reported using acetone as carbon source and Mg as reductant. It is observed that the synthesized CNS powder has good thermal stability up to 610 °C in air.…”

Heteroatom Doped-Carbon Nanospheres as Anodes in Lithium Ion Batteries

“…Xiao et al , synthesized hydrogenated CNSs by a low temperature solvothermal method using CHCl 3 as carbon source. Compared to Wang’s work, the obtained nanospheres had similar textural characteristics (particle size and specific area) and semi-graphitized structure but higher electrochemical performance (978 mA·h·g −1 @50 mA·g −1 after 50 cycles) which was attributed to the high hydrogen-doping favoring the Li binding [12]. …”