Fabrication of nitrogen-containing hollow carbon nanospheres by pyrolysis of self-assembled poly(aniline-co-pyrrole)

Novel nitrogen-containing hollow carbon nanospheres were facilely prepared by direct pyrolysis of self-assembled poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) hollow microspheres. The uniform copolymer hollow microspheres with average outer diameter and shell of 746 nm and 169 nm, respectively, were formed in ammonia solution via a one-step unstirred polymerization. And their hollow carbon nanospheres were prepared by direct pyrolysis of the copolymer spheres. It was found that pyrolysis products of the copolymer spheres were made up of hollow carbon nanospheres (235 nm in average outer diameter) with nitrogen content of 7.18 wt% at the pyrolysis temperature of 1000 °C, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area and total pore volume of the obtained hollow carbon nanospheres were up to 610 m2 g−1 and 0.312 cm3 g−1, respectively.

► Self-assembled poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) hollow microspheres were synthesized by using ammonia as a medium.
► Nitrogen-containing hollow carbon nanospheres have been fabricated by pyrolysis of the copolymer precursor.
► These hollow carbon nanospheres are believed to be promising materials for supercapacitor electrodes.