Highly Crystalline Mesoporous C₆₀ with Ordered Pores: A Class of Nanomaterials for Energy Applications

Abstract

Highly ordered mesoporous C₆₀ with a well-ordered porous structure and a high crystallinity is prepared through the nanohard templating method using a saturated solution of C₆₀ in 1-chloronaphthalene (51 mg mL^-1 ) as a C₆₀ precursor and SBA-15 as a hard template. The high solubility of C₆₀ in 1-chloronaphthalene helps not only to encapsulate a huge amount of the C₆₀ into the mesopores of the template but also supports the oligomerization of C₆₀ and the formation of crystalline walls made of C₆₀ . The obtained mesoporous C₆₀ exhibits a rod-shaped morphology, a high specific surface area (680 m² g^-1 ), tuneable pores, and a highly crystalline wall structure. This exciting ordered mesoporous C₆₀ offers high supercapacitive performance and a high selectivity to H₂ O₂ production and methanol tolerance for ORR. This simple strategy could be adopted to make a series of mesoporous fullerenes with different structures and carbon atoms as a new class of energy materials.