Graphene-like carbon with three-dimensional periodicity prepared from organic-inorganic templates for energy storage application

Free-standing, intergrown and covalently-bonded structures of three-dimensional (3D) graphene may have great advantages in electric and thermal transport properties for energy applications, but the desired symmetry and periodicity are rather hard to design and produce. Here we use an organic-inorganic template to grow an inverse.opal graphene structure by chemical vapor deposition. The symmetry-controlling temperate is a porous polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) opal, infiltrated with inorganic cation precursors that form an interfacial phase between spheres. A graphene-like inverse opal, comprising nanometer-thick porous carbon of few-layer graphene sheets, forms on the surfaces of the porous inorganic oxide (Al2O3, MgO, SiO2) interfacial phase by templated CVD, and it remains free-standing after template removal. The three-dimensional ordered microporous and mesoporous graphene inverse opals are highly conductive with a low sheet electrical resistance of 0.35 Ω sq−1 and a large specific surface area of 972 m2 g−1. After N-doping, this inverse opal graphene exhibits a specific capacitance of 252 F g−1 that is stable over 5000 cycles, offering great potential for electrochemical energy storage applications.

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