Chapter 26 - Porous Materials from Polybenzoxazine

Abstract

This chapter introduces the preparation of porous polybenzoxazine and porous carbon derived from polybenzoxazine. By taking advantage of the molecular design flexibility of polybenzoxazine and using the appropriate preparation methods, porous materials with various pore dimensions and pore structures are synthesized. Because of the simplicity and versatility, porous carbon materials derived from polybenzoxazine have a great potential in various advanced applications. Porous materials, especially porous carbon, have been extensively studied over the past decade and have been used in various applications, such as water purification, gas separation, catalyst supports, electrode material for energy storage devices, adsorbents, molecular sieves, thermal insulation, etc. According to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) definition, porous materials can be classified into three categories based on their pore sizes: microporous, mesoporous, and macroporous. Porous carbon materials have been conventionally prepared by pyrolysis and physical or chemical activation of organic precursors, such as coals, woods, polymers, etc. at elevated temperatures in inert atmospheres. These porous carbon materials, such as activated carbon and molecular sieving carbons, generally have broad pore size distributions in both micro- and mesopore ranges. The products obtained from these processes are mesoporous carbon materials with broad pore size distributions and a reasonable amount of microporosity.