Low-Temperature-Mediated Lamellar–Micelle Assembly of Wrinkled Mesoporous Carbon Nanospheres with Aligned Pores and High Interconnectivity

Mesoporous structures with highly permeable channels are of great significance for fast diffusion; however, the delicate engineering of straightforward pores remains quite limited, with most of mesostructures are tortuous pores derived from spherical micelle assembly. Herein, we explore a novel lamellar–micelle assembly approach that enables to generate a type of wrinkled mesoporous carbon nanospheres with highly interconnected divergent mesopores. In place of the conventional spherical micelles, the key for controlling such unusual assembly is determined by the construction of laminar micelles (copolymer L121/F127 composite) and heterogeneous growth on sedimented F127 seeds at a low temperature of 5 °C. The fabricated wrinkled mesoporous carbon nanospheres after template removal possess a particle size at ∼910 nm, a high surface area of 315 m2 g–1, a uniform pore size at 36 nm, as well as radial mesochannels with high interconnectivity up to 96%. Further regulation on the reaction temperature and template ratio allows for a high tunability over the pore size and wrinkle degree. When employed as a sodium storage anode, the radially aligned large-pore structure drastically facilitates charge transport and electrolyte penetration, thus delivering rate capability (142 mAh g–1 at 10 A g–1) and long-term cyclability (90.5% retention after 1000 cycles at 2 A g–1) compared to commercial hard carbon. Our work underscores a particular assembly pathway through lamellar micelles as an effective approach for building up ultrafast mesopore highways toward promising diffusion-related applications.