Mo-catalysis-assisted expeditious synthesis of N-doped erythrocyte-like hollow porous carbons for sodium storage

Rational design and construction, with appropriate approaches to achieve desired hollow interiors in carbonaceous materials, is a pivotal issue remaining to be resolved in realizing their widespread practical availability. Herein, we aim to provide a feasible and novel strategy to synthesize N-doped hollow porous carbons with pore sizes in the range of 0.5–1 nm through Mo-catalysis-assisted interfacial microemulsion polymerization combined with a carbonization process on a large scale. The morphology of the as-prepared carbon materials can be controlled from solid spheres to erythrocyte-like hollow structures, and the particle sizes can be tuned from ∼50 nm to ∼10 μm. Such unusual hollow porous architectures might offer unique structure-dependent physiochemical properties and promising applications in many areas. As an example, we demonstrate that the erythrocyte-like carbon could exhibit remarkable electrochemical performance as an anode for sodium-ion batteries.