Hierarchical Porous Core−Shell Carbon Nanoparticles

Abstract

The excellent physical and chemical properties of porous carbon materials allow them to be widely used in many fields. Their performance in a specific application is usually determined by structural features such as pore diameter, channel length, and architecture. In recent years, great efforts have been made to develop suitable carbon-based materials with short pores and/or hierarchical porous architectures, for use in transport or diffusion of guest objects by reducing pathways and resistance. In the present paper, we report on a novel carbon nanostructure constructed with a mesoporous core and a microporous shell. The mesopore walls are constructed of only a few graphene layers and can be controllably removed by a wetting oxidation reaction, which leaves behind hollow nanoparticles. These short-pore structures could facilitate the diffusion of molecules; they also show a very high and stable catalytic performance during the dehydrogenation of cyclohexane that is far superior to currently available long-pore materials, such as active carbon and carbon nanotubes.