Hierarchical Electrospun and Cooperatively Assembled Nanoporous Ni/NiO/MnOx/Carbon Nanofiber Composites for Lithium Ion Battery Anodes.

A facile method to fabricate hierarchically structured fiber composites is described based on the electrospinning of a dope containing nickel and manganese nitrate salts, citric acid, phenolic resin, and an amphiphilic block copolymer. Carbonization of these fiber mats at 800 °C generates metallic Ni-encapsulated NiO/MnOx/carbon composite fibers with average BET surface area (150 m(2)/g) almost 3 times higher than those reported for nonporous metal oxide nanofibers. The average diameter (∼900 nm) of these fiber composites is nearly invariant of chemical composition and can be easily tuned by the dope concentration and electrospinning conditions.

Role of Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Composition on Pore Characteristics of Micelle-Templated Mesoporous Cobalt Oxide Films.

Block copolymer templating is a versatile approach for the generation of well-defined porosity in a wide variety of framework chemistries. Here, we systematically investigate how the composition of a poly(methoxy poly[ethylene glycol] methacrylate)-block-poly(butyl acrylate) (PMPEG-PBA) template impacts the pore characteristics of mesoporous cobalt oxide films. Three templates with a constant PMPEG segment length and different hydrophilic block volume fractions of 17%, 51%, and 68% for the PMPEG-PBA are cooperatively assembled with cobalt nitrate hexahydrate and citric acid.