Carbon microbeads with hierarchical structure

A method for making hierarchically-structured carbon microbeads, the method comprising:

• combining organic precursor having more than 20 wt % oxygen with a liquid or solid substance that will provide a liquid under solvothermal conditions and a graphitizing catalyst to form a mixture;
• heating the mixture under solvothermal conditions to produce a carbonaceous material;
• and
• carbonizing the resulting carbonaceous material to produce spherical graphitic carbon microbeads including a core/shell structure, wherein the core contains graphitic nanoparticles and is substantially covered with a thin carbonaceous coating, wherein the graphitizing catalyst comprises a transition metal and wherein the transition metal is Co, or Ni.

A method for making hierarchically-structured carbon microbeads, the method comprising:

• combining organic precursor having more than 20 wt % oxygen with a liquid or solid substance that will provide a liquid under solvothermal conditions and a graphitizing catalyst to form a mixture;
• heating the mixture under solvothermal conditions to produce a carbonaceous material;
• carbonizing the resulting carbonaceous material to produce spherical graphitic carbon microbeads including a core/shell structure wherein the spherical core contains graphitic nanoparticles and is substantially covered with a thin carbonaceous coating;
• and
• activating the microbeads step to increase surface area of the microbeads after the heating step, wherein the activation step removes a portion of the coating while leaving the spherical core intact.