Self-catalyzed synthesis of mesoporous carbons with tunable pore size and structure by soft-templating method

Abstract

A series of mesoporous carbons (MCs) have been obtained through organic–organic self-assembly method by using phloroglucinol–formaldehyde as carbon precursor and a reverse amphiphilic triblock copolymer as a template. Because of its acidity, the phloroglucinol was used as a catalyst itself. Results show that the pore size and structure of MCs were tailored by simply tuning the weight content of formaldehyde while keeping other reactants constant. A cylindrical mesostructure was obtained when the weight content was 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4. Further increasing the weight content to 1.6 or 2.0, a three-dimensional cage-like mesostructure was obtained. Specific surface area and pore volume up to 485 m2/g and 0.78 cm3/g can be reached, respectively. In addition, the pore size can be tuned in the range of 4.9–14.8 nm by changing the content of formaldehyde.