Achieving F-doped porous hollow carbon nanospheres with ultrahigh pore volume via a gas–solid interface reaction

Abstract

Finding a tunable and facile method to make functional porous hollow carbons with ultrahigh-pore-volume hierarchical porous structures and well-designed functionalities has been challenging. Herein, we present a gas–solid interface reaction approach for one-step synthesis of fluorine-doped hierarchical porous hollow carbon nanospheres (FPHCs) controlled by employing SiO₂ or Si spheres as a sacrificial template, and Teflon as a carbon, fluorine, and etching gas source. The afforded FPHCs feature an ultrahigh pore volume of up to 7.16 cm³ g⁻¹, which is the highest pore volume for porous hollow carbons reported so far, tunable hierarchical pore sizes, and a high fluorine-doping content, endowing them with excellent electrochemical performance in high-sulfur-content Li–S batteries. This novel approach may open up new horizons to construct ultrahigh-pore-volume functional porous hollow carbons for sustainable energy applications.