Rapid Gas-Engineering to the Manufacture of Graphene-Like Mesoporous Carbon Nanosheets with a Large Aspect Ratio

Porous carbon nanosheets (PCNs) with a large two-dimensional morphology and high porosity have emerged as an important class of 2D materials, while developing novel technology to manufacture high-quality PCNs in terms of convenience, high output, and economic benefit remains a challenge. Herein, a rapid gas-engineering technology is developed to fabricate graphene-like mesoporous carbon nanosheets (MCNs) with large aspect ratios (>2500, length/thickness). By easy carbonization of calcium gluconate under reduced pressure, MCNs with ultrathin (∼12 nm) thickness, ultralarge (>20 μm) lamella morphology, and high surface area (∼1155 m2/g) are fabricated in kilogram scale. Two-dimensional lamella morphology transformation, pore architectures, and calcium compounds transformation mechanisms are unraveled by in situ variable temperature X-ray diffraction (VT-XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), ex situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The key to the synthesis is the negative pressure operation, which triggers the rapid gas expansion in a gas–solid system. This design relied on the gas expansion mechanism has realized producing of high-quality MCNs via a rapid, high-throughput, and cost-effective way. Due to high surface utilization and low weight density, when served as a lightweight separator coating layer, MCNs exhibit impressive capture ability toward polysulfides and achieve a high-stability lithium–sulfur battery.