Synthesis of Discrete and Dispersible Hollow Carbon Nanospheres with High Uniformity by Using Confined Nanospace Pyrolysis

Many spheres of influence: Surface coating of monodisperse polystyrene (PS) nanosphere seeds with a phenol-containing polymer (PF) and then silica forms a dual core–shell structure PS@PF@SiO2 (see picture). Subsequent pyrolysis results in discrete, dispersible, and uniform hollow carbon nanospheres (HCSs). The outer silica shell serves as a nanoreactor and thus prevents the polymer and carbon layers from conglutination and sintering.