Synthesis of hollow silica nanosphere with high accessible surface area and their hybridization with carbon matrix for drastic enhancement of electrochemical property

Abstract Hollow silica nanospheres with high accessible surface area have been synthesized by using core–shell–corona polymeric micelle of poly (styrene- b -2-vinyle pyridine- b -ethylene oxide) (PS45k-PVP26k-PEO82k) as a template. The size of the template polymeric micelle depends on the pH of the solution, i.e. ≈100 nm at pH 7 whereas ≈300 nm at pH 4. The enlarged size of the micelle is possibly due to the protonation of the PVP block, which also serves as reaction sites for silica precursor. The size of the obtained silica nanosphere measured with transmission electron microscope (TEM) is around ≈70 nm and shell thickness is ≈20 nm. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) data confirms that the polymer template is completely removed during calcination. Conductive carbon is doped into the silica nanosphere through glucose solution followed by hydrothermal treatment and pyrolysis. It is found that the electrochemical performance and stability of the silica nanosphere is dramatically enhanced after carbon doping. The combined strategy of the core–shell–corona micelle as template and carbon doping could represent a new platform for the researchers to develop functional nanomaterials.