Exceptionally large surface area and well-defined nanostructure are both critical in the field of nanoporous carbons for challenging energy and environmental issues. The pursuit of ultrahigh surface area while maintaining definite nanostructure remains a formidable challenge because extensive creation of pores will undoubtedly give rise to the damage of nanostructures, especially below 100 nm. Here we report that high surface area of up to 3,022 m² g⁻¹ can be achieved for hollow carbon nanospheres with an outer diameter of 69 nm by a simple carbonization procedure with carefully selected carbon precursors and carbonization conditions. The tailor-made pore structure of hollow carbon nanospheres enables target-oriented applications, as exemplified by their enhanced adsorption capability towards organic vapours, and electrochemical performances as electrodes for supercapacitors and sulphur host materials for lithium–sulphur batteries. The facile approach may open the doors for preparation of highly porous carbons with desired nanostructure for numerous applications.

A new class of nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon/silica (N-OMC/SiO₂) nanocomposites was successfully fabricated via a multi-constituent co-assembly strategy. The N-OMC/SiO₂ nanocomposite presented a unique interpenetrating carbon/silica structure whose carbon/silica interface is highly uniform, and thus demonstrated high capacity, good cycling and excellent rate properties.

Super-hierarchical carbons with a unique carbonaceous hybrid nanotube-interconnected porous network were fabricated by utilizing well-defined carbon nanotube@polystyrene bottlebrushes as building blocks.