Organic Amine-Mediated Synthesis of Polymer and Carbon Microspheres: Mechanism Insight and Energy-Related Applications

A general organic amine-mediated synthesis of polymer microspheres is developed based on the copolymerization of resorcinol, formaldehyde, and various organic amines at room temperature. Structure formation and evolution of colloidal microspheres in the presence of polyethylenimine are monitored by dynamic light scattering measurements. It is found that the colloidal clusters are formed instantaneously and then experience an anomalous shrinkage–growth process. This should be caused by two different reaction pathways: cross-linking inside the microspheres and step-growth polymerization of substituted resorcinol on the microsphere surface, leading to the formation of core–shell heterogeneous structures as confirmed by TEM observation and XPS analysis. A formation mechanism of polymer microspheres is provided based on the aggregation of polyethylenimine/resorcinol–formaldehyde (PEI-RF) self-assembled nuclei, which is apparently different from the conventional Stöber process. Furthermore, nitrogen-doped carbon microspheres are prepared by the direct carbonization of these polymer microspheres, which exhibit microporous BET surface areas of 400–500 m2 g–1, high nitrogen contents of 5–6 wt %, and a good CO2 adsorption capacity up to 3.6 mmol g–1 at 0 °C. KOH activation is further employed to develop the porous texture of carbon microspheres without sacrificing the spherical morphology. The resultant activated carbon microspheres exhibit small particle size (<80 nm), high BET surface areas of 1500–2000 m2 g–1, and considerable nitrogen content of 2.2–2.0 wt %. When used as the electrode materials for supercapacitors, these activated carbon microspheres demonstrate a high capacitance up to 240 F g–1, an unprecedented rate performance and good cycling performance.