Recent Progress on Asymmetric Carbon- and Silica-Based Nanomaterials: From Synthetic Strategies to Their Applications

Haitao Li; Liang Chen; Xiaomin Li; Daoguang Sun; Haijiao Zhang

doi:10.1007/s40820-021-00789-y

Recent Progress on Asymmetric Carbon- and Silica-Based Nanomaterials: From Synthetic Strategies to Their Applications

Nanomicro Lett. 2022 Jan 17;14(1):45. doi: 10.1007/s40820-021-00789-y.

Authors

Haitao Li^#¹, Liang Chen^#², Xiaomin Li², Daoguang Sun¹, Haijiao Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Advanced Nanomaterials, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Nanomaterials, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Nanomaterials (2011-iChEM), Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China.
³ Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, People's Republic of China. hjzhang128@shu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Highlights:

The synthetic strategies and fundamental mechanisms of various asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials were systematically summarized.
The advantages of asymmetric structure on their related applications were clarified by some representative applications of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials.
The future development prospects and challenges of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials were proposed.

Abstract: Carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials possess a set of merits including large surface area, good structural stability, diversified morphology, adjustable structure, and biocompatibility. These outstanding features make them widely applied in different fields. However, limited by the surface free energy effect, the current studies mainly focus on the symmetric structures, such as nanospheres, nanoflowers, nanowires, nanosheets, and core–shell structured composites. By comparison, the asymmetric structure with ingenious adjustability not only exhibits a larger effective surface area accompanied with more active sites, but also enables each component to work independently or corporately to harness their own merits, thus showing the unusual performances in some specific applications. The current review mainly focuses on the recent progress of design principles and synthesis methods of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials, and their applications in energy storage, catalysis, and biomedicine. Particularly, we provide some deep insights into their unique advantages in related fields from the perspective of materials’ structure–performance relationship. Furthermore, the challenges and development prospects on the synthesis and applications of asymmetric carbon- and silica-based nanomaterials are also presented and highlighted.

Keywords: Asymmetric structure; Biomedicine; Carbon- and silica-based nanoparticles; Energy storage and conversion; Synthetic strategies.

Publication types

Review