Facile Preparation of Monodisperse Carbon Spheres: Template-Free Construction and Their Hydrogen Storage Properties

A simple and effective template-free method to prepare monodisperse carbon spheres has been successfully developed using solid poly­(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) (P­(St-co-DVB)) nanospheres as the raw material, anhydrous aluminum chloride as the Friedel–Crafts catalyst, and carbon tetrachloride as a cross-linker and solvent. The pore structure in the spheres can be tailored by substituting hollow P­(St-co-DVB) capsules (HPCs) for solid P­(St-co-DVB) spheres (SPSs). Experimental results show that the micropore size of the spheres obtained from HPCs increases compared to that of the spheres obtained from SPSs, and the pore volume and the specific surface area also have changed. The mechanism behind these phenomena and the hydrogen storage properties of the obtained carbon spheres at 77 K and 1 atm are further studied in this work