Hydrothermally self-templated synthesis of rectangular polyimide submicrotubes and promising potentials in electrochemical energy storage.

An unconventional hydrothermal polycondensation of monomer salt crystals was readily performed to produce rectangular-shape amorphous polyimide submicrotubes, which show promising potentials in serving as both cathode and anode active materials for Li-ion batteries as well as being transformed into N-doped carbon tubes for supercapacitor electrodes.