Nanoengineering of uniform and monodisperse mesoporous carbon nanospheres mediated by long hydrophilic chains of triblock copolymers

A one-step soft templating strategy for synthesizing uniform and monodisperse mesoporous carbon nanospheres (UM-MCNs) with sub-100 nm size and large mesopores without using any co-solvent additives has not yet been reported. Herein, an extremely simple,effective and environment friendly strategy was first developed to prepare uniform, monodisperse polymer nanospheres (PNs) and UM-MCNs with small particle size (80–90 nm) and large mesopores (~ 6.8 nm), where F108 with long hydrophilic chains not only served as mesopore-forming reagent, but also as a dispersant reagent that facilitated uniform growth of the nanospheres, resulting in a narrow particle size distribution. Moreover, F108 could also act as a stability-driving agent, that is, the phloroglucinol/formaldehyde polymer was tightly “locked” by the long hydrophilic segments of F108 via strong hydrogen bonding. Consequently, intact carbon nanospheres with large mesopores were obtained after carbonization, and finally a three-dimensional periodic arrangement of the UM-MCNs was formed. In addition, ethanol could be used as a co-surfactant or co-solvent during self-assembly. The present strategy may not only supply a novel avenue to synthesize UM-MCNs, but also shed light on insights into the profound impact of F108 with long hydrophilic chains and ethanol on the morphology and pore size of carbon spheres.