Thin-walled carbon nanocages: Direct growth, characterization, and applications

Carbon nanocages with one or a few graphitic layers (see figure) are directly grown in the solid state by heat treatment of a carbon-iron mixture at low temperature. Such thin-walled nanocages have a fine size of 3-12 nm and a high surface area of 535 m(2) g(-1). They are are a superb catalyst support for low-temperature fuel cells and could be applicable in many other fields.