Facile Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbons with High Thermal Stability by Self-Assembly of Resorcinol−Formaldehyde and Block Copolymers under Highly Acidic Conditions

• Published in: Langmuir 2008-07, Vol.24 (14), p.7500-7505
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiqing, Liang, Chengdu, Dai, Sheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Materials: Nano-and Mesostructured Materials, Polymers, Gels, Liquid Crystals, Composites; Porous materials; Surface physical chemistry
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/la800529v

The effect of phenols reactivity with formaldehyde on the formation of ordered mesoporous carbons has been investigated. A strategy to accelerate the polymerization of phenolic resins by using strongly acidic conditions is proposed. The self-assembly of resorcinol−formaldehyde and block copolymers (e.g., F127) under highly acidic concentrations (e.g., 1.5 M HCl) is probably driven by the I+X−S+ mechanism and hydrogen bonding and affords a highly reproducible approach for synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbons. The synthesis can be readily scaled up with no change in sample quality. The carbon material obtained (denoted as C-ORNL-1) exhibits highly ordered hexagonal mesostructure, with a typical BET surface area of ∼600 m2/g, pore size of 6.3 nm, and pore volume of ∼0.60 cm3/g. One of the unique structural features of C-ORNL-1 is its high thermal stability; it can be graphitized at 2600 °C while considerable mesoporosity is maintained.