General synthesis of porous mixed metal oxide hollow spheres with enhanced supercapacitive properties

Porous mixed metal oxide (MMO) hollow spheres present high specific surface areas, abundant electrochemically active sites, and outstanding electrochemical properties, showing potential applications in energy storage. A hydro/solvothermal process, followed by a calcination process, can be a viable method for producing uniform porous metal oxide hollow spheres. Unfortunately, this method usually involves harsh synthetic conditions such as high temperature and intricate processing. Herein, we report a general and facile "ion adsorption-annealing" approach for the fabrication of uniform porous MMO hollow spheres. The size and shell thickness of the as-obtained hollow spheres can be adjusted by the carbohydrate sphere templates and the solution concentration. Electrochemical measurements of the MMO hollow spheres demonstrate excellent supercapacitive properties, which may be due to the small size, ultrathin shells, and fine porous structure.