Fabrication of Mesoporous C60/Carbon Hybrids with 3D Porous Structure for Energy Storage Applications

We report on the synthesis of 3D mesoporous fullerene/carbon hybrid materials with ordered porous
structure and high surface area by mixing the solution of fullerene and sucrose molecules in the
nanochannels of 3D mesoporous silica, KIT-6 via nanotemplating approach. The addition of sucrose
molecules in the synthesis offers a thin layer of carbon between the fullerene molecules which
enhances not only the specific surface area and the specific pore volume but also the conductivity
of the hybrid materials. The prepared hybrids exhibit 3D mesoporous structure and show a much
higher specific surface area than that of the pure mesoporous fullerene. The hybrids materials are
used as the electrodes for supercapacitor and Li-ion battery applications. The optimised hybrid
sample shows an excellent rate capability and a high specific capacitance of 254 F/g at the current
density of 0.5 A/g, which is much higher than that of the pure mesoporous fullerene, mesoporous
carbon, activated carbon and multiwalled carbon nanotubes. When used as the electrode for Li-ion
battery, the sample delivers the largest specific capacity of 1067 mAh/g upon 50 cycles at the current
density of 0.1 A/g with stability. These results reveal that the addition of carbon in the mesoporous
fullerene with 3D structure makes a significant impact on the electrochemical properties of the
hybrid samples, demonstrating their potential for applications in Li-ion battery and supercapacitor
devices.