Development on the Preparation and Application of Onion-like Carbon

Due to unique structure, onion-like carbon has excellent physical and chemical properties that brodens the application in carbon and carbon-based composite materials. The classification and the structure of onion-like carbon were firstly introduced. Its advantages and disadvantages of traditional preparation methods, including arc discharge, plasma, electron-beam radiation, chemical vapor deposition, nanodiamond annealing in vacuum, thermolysis, were summarized. Then, some new synthetic methods developed in recent years were also presented. Subsequently, the application of onion-like carbon on anode materials of lithium ion secondary battery, counter electrode materials of dye-sensitized solar cell, electrodes materials of electrochemical hydrogen storage and super capacitor, friction and wear, and catalyst fields was summarized. Finally, deficiencies of preparation and application on onion-like carbon were pointed out and future research were put forward.