Programmable mesoporous carbon architectures from liquefied wood via reactive-emulsion-mediated self-assembly

Abstract Developing biomass-derived programmable self-assembly systems for precise control of carbon morphology and architecture remains challenging, primarily because of the intrinsic heterogeneity that hinders controllable assembly. Here, we report a biomass-enabled reactive-emulsion-mediated strategy for converting liquefied wood into various mesoporous carbon nanomaterials. This synthesis features the introduction of trioctyl phosphate (TOP) as a hydrophobic swelling agent for composite micelles and an interfacial modifier, shifting the preferred micelle curvature/packing tendency and biasing the assembly pathway from homogeneous aqueous self-assembly toward interface-associated anisotropic organization. This coupled regulation progressively reduces the density of ordered mesochannels within the fibrous framework and promotes the evolution from ordered mesoporous nanofibers to hollow nanofibers and bowl-like architectures. The fabricated hollow carbon nanofiber-based mixed ion-electron thermoelectric generator (MTEG) exhibits a high thermopower of 12.33 mV K –1 (across 40 kΩ). This strategy provides a versatile route for constructing biomass-derived mesoporous carbon materials with tunable morphologies and pore architectures.