Porous Carbon and Carbon/Metal Oxide Composites by Ice Templating and Subsequent Pyrolysis

Abstract

There are continuously strong interests for the preparation of carbon and carbon composite materials because of their excellent properties and very broad applications. We report here the fabrication of porous carbon and carbon/metal oxide composites via an ice-templating approach and a carbonization process. Porous polymer and polymer/metal–organic framework (MOF) composites, namely poly(4-styrenesulfonate) and UiO-66 nanoparticles, are first prepared via a simple freeze-casting process. The material morphology and loading of MOF particles can be easily adjusted by varying initial suspension compositions during the freeze-casting process. These ice-templated materials are subsequently carbonized under Ar, producing carbon and carbon/ZrO2 composites with ice-templated macropores and micropores/mesopores. The carbonized materials are evaluated as adsorbents for dye removal from aqueous solution, exhibiting high performance in general for the adsorption of methylene blue, particularly achieving the high adsorption capacity of 96 mg g–1 (10 mg adsorbent/5 cm3 aqueous dye solution) with the porous carbon material.