Multishell Hollow Metal/Nitrogen/Carbon Dodecahedrons with Precisely Controlled Architectures and Synergistically Enhanced Catalytic Properties.

Abstract

Multishell hollow nanoarchitectures are one of the most important branches in the nanomaterial field due to their enormous potential in many fields, but synthesizing them in a well-controlled manner remains challenging. Herein, we present a general strategy for the construction of multishell hollow metal/nitrogen/carbon dodecahedrons (metal@NC) with well-defined and precisely controlled architectures. This strategy is based on the pyrolysis of multilayer solid ZIFs prepared by a step-by-step crystal growth approach, which enables precise control over the shell number and composition of the resultant hollow metal@NC. Impressively, our strategy can be further extended to the synthesis of yolk@multishell hollow structures or multishell hollow structures that are assembled by carbon nanotubes. The multishell hollow structures can efficiently facilitate the mass diffusion, which together with the high dispersity and increased surface area are responsible for their significantly enhanced catalytic performances for the selective hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural to cyclopentanol when compared with their solid and single-shell counterparts. We anticipate that our general strategy would shed light on the rational design and accurate construction of other complex multishell hollow materials for various important yet challenging applications.