Hollow Carbon Nanoparticles of Tunable Size and Wall Thickness by Hydrothermal Treatment of α-Cyclodextrin Templated by F127 Block Copolymers

On the basis of the strategy of forming supermolecular structure between α-cyclodextrin and poly(ethylene oxide), a facile synthesis process has been successfully developed for producing hollow carbon nanoparticles of controllable size and morphology by hydrothermal treatment of α-cyclodextrin in the presence of Pluronic F127 as a soft template. The hollow carbon nanoparticles thus derived are demonstrated to exhibit excellent hydrophilic behavior. Their sizes and wall thicknesses can be tuned by adjusting the ratio of α-cyclodextrin to F127. After pyrolysis at 900 °C in argon gas, the hollow carbon nanoparticles exhibit a meso-/microporous carbon wall with specific surface area of >400 m2/g and a high specific charge capacity of >450 mAh/g when employed as an anode in a lithium ion battery.