Tailoring carbon nanomaterials via a molecular scissor

Abstract Carbon is a fascinating element that can be found in a wide spectrum of materials and plays a significant role in diverse disciplines across the scientific community. Carbon nanomaterials take many forms with numerous applications. Controllably tailoring carbon nanomaterials at the molecular scale can be considered as a basic innovation yet remains a significant challenge because of carbon’s intrinsic structural and chemical stability. Herein, we report a molecular scissor to efficiently tailor carbon nanomaterials of different dimensions at a molecular level. By using the Mg/Zn bimetallic effect and CO2 molecules, a molecular scissor was invented to engineer the surface of carbon nanomaterials with highly interconnected graphene pillared superstructures. The molecular scissor redesigned the carbon materials with improved surface properties for use in various applications. For energy storage application, both ultrahigh surface area and conductivity can be achieved concurrently with substantial ion-reserved accommodation and rapid mass-transfer expressway. As a demonstration, a flexible solid-state supercapacitor based on the surface-tailored carbon fiber was developed with Polyvinyl alcohol(PVA)/Na2SO4 gel electrolytes. It delivered a remarkably high energy density of 4.63 mW h cm–3 at a power density of 3520 mW cm–3. This work paves a new way to reinvent carbon materials at the molecular scale and promote their applications for energy storage, sensing, environmental remediation, and healthcare.