Highly microporous carbon materials synthesized from fluorine-containing poly(amic acid) adsorbed in polystyrene cryogel template

Abstract

In this work, a highly microporous carbon material was synthesized through the combination of fluorine-containing poly(amic acid) (F-PAA), which can produce a microporous carbon material upon carbonization, and a mesoporous polystyrene (PS) cryogel. Carbonization of F-PAA at 1000°C yielded a microporous carbon material with high specific surface area (SSA, ∼1300m2/g). In addition, we prepared a PS cryogel template with microcellular structure by freeze-drying the PS solution in 1,4-dioxane. The template was then impregnated with F-PAA, followed by carbonization at 1000°C. Interestingly, the carbon material obtained through this approach maintained the microcellular structure of the PS cryogel template even after template pyrolysis during carbonization. Moreover, the microcellular carbon material exhibited a high SSA and a large micropore volume (∼2400m2/g and 0.90cm3/g, respectively).