Micro–mesoporous nitrogen-doped hollow carbon nanospheres as anodes for lithium-ion batteries with high-rate capability and outstanding cycling performance

Hollow porous carbon spheres have realized widespread applications as anodes in lithium-ion batteries. This study investigates micro–mesoporous nitrogen-doped hollow carbon nanospheres (NHCs) with outstanding lithium storage performance, which are derived from their phenolic analogues via a simple one-pot reaction. The as-prepared NHCs demonstrate an initial irreversible capacity of 949.3 mA h g−1 and still retain a high irreversible capacity of 539.0 mA h g−1 at 1000 mA g−1. The NHCs also exhibits an excellent reversible capacity (717.2 mA h g−1 at 500 mA g−1) after 500 cycles. The high-performance of the NHC electrode can be ascribed to the unique structures of NCSs featuring small uniform size, nitrogen dopant, thin shell thickness and rich mesoporous structure.