Synergistic Engineering Assembly of Twisted Mesoporous Carbon Nanorods as Potential Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

Precise engineering of geometrical structure in mesoporous carbon materials is crucial for enhancing their electrochemical storage performance. Herein, we report a tannic acid-mediated molecular-level interface assembly strategy to construct highly nitrogen-doped twisted mesoporous carbon nanorods (MCR) for the first time. Controlled experiments reveal that tannic acid and toluene act as synergistic molecular regulators, guiding the assembly of Pluronic P123 (PEO 20 PPO 70 PEO 20 ) into stable cylindrical micelles via hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions, which subsequently evolve into a twisted rod-like morphology. The twisted architecture effectively buffers volume expansion during repeated lithiation/delithiation. Meanwhile, the large specific surface area and high nitrogen doping level (13.9 at. %) provide abundant electroactive sites for lithium-ion storage. Furthermore, the well-aligned one-dimensional mesoporous channels facilitate rapid ion diffusion and efficient electron transport. As a result, the designed MCR anode delivers a high reversible capacity of 701.9 mA h g –1 at 100 mA g –1 after 150 cycles and remains at 563.9 mA h g –1 at 1000 mA g –1 after 1500 cycles, outperforming the control mesoporous carbon spheres (only 436.6 mA h g –1 at 100 mA g –1, 341.7 mA h g –1 at 1000 mA g –1 ). This work offers valuable insights for the rational design of high-performance porous carbon electrode materials with tailored geometric architectures.