Hollow carbon nanobubbles: monocrystalline MOF nanobubbles and their pyrolysis

Authors

Wei Zhang, East China Normal University
Xiangfen Jiang, National Institute For Materials Science
Yanyi Zhao, East China Normal University
Arnau Carne-Sanchez, Kyoto University
Victor Malgras, National Institute for Materials ScienceFollow
Jeonghun Kim, University of WollongongFollow
Jung Ho Kim, University of Wollongong, National Institute for Materials ScienceFollow
Shaobin Wang, Curtin University
Jian Liu, Curtin UniversityFollow
Ji-Sen Jiang, East China Normal University
Yusuke Yamauchi, University of Wollongong, National Institute for Materials ScienceFollow
Ming Hu, East China Normal University

RIS ID

115358

Publication Details

Zhang, W., Jiang, X., Zhao, Y., Carne-Sanchez, A., Malgras, V., Kim, J., Kim, J., Wang, S., Liu, J., Jiang, J., Yamauchi, Y. & Hu, M. (2017). Hollow carbon nanobubbles: monocrystalline MOF nanobubbles and their pyrolysis. Chemical Science, 8 (5), 3538-3546.

Abstract

While bulk-sized metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) face limits to their utilization in various research fields such as energy storage applications, nanoarchitectonics is believed to be a possible solution. It is highly challenging to realize MOF nanobubbles with monocrystalline frameworks. By a spatially controlled etching approach, here, we can achieve the synthesis of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) nanobubbles with a uniform size of less than 100 nm. Interestingly, the ZIF-8 nanobubbles possess a monocrystalline nanoshell with a thickness of around 10 nm. Under optimal pyrolytic conditions, the ZIF-8 nanobubbles can be converted into hollow carbon nanobubbles while keeping their original shapes. The structure of the nanobubble enhances the fast Na + /K + ion intercalation performance. Such remarkable improvement cannot be realized by conventional MOFs or their derived carbons.