Simple fabrication of an ordered nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon with resorcinol–melamine–formaldehyde resin

Abstract

An ordered nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon has been prepared through direct self-assembly of resorcinol–melamine–formaldehyde resin and ampliphilic triblock copolymer (Pluronic F127), without using additional prepolymerization and hydrothermal solidification steps. This one-pot strategy involves the formation of nitrogen-containing organic polymer using condensation of resorcinol–formaldehyde resin with melamine–formaldehyde resin, which bridges with block copolymer template to attain an alignment of ordered channels during polymerization. The effect of various factors on the properties and mesostructure is elaborated, using small angle X-ray diffraction, thermo gravimetric analysis, nitrogen sorption, transmission electron microcopy, Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. It is demonstrated that the obtained mesoporous carbons have excellent textural properties such as ordered mesostructure (Im3¯m symmetry), high surface area and uniform pore size, while the nitrogen content was incorporated in the form of various nitrogen species in the pore wall of the carbon network. The presence of nitrogenous groups in the resulting materials significantly improved the CO2 adsorption capacity of mesoporous carbon (3.2mmolg−1 at 0°C, 2.9mmolg−1 at 25°C) and activated mesocarbon (4.6mmolg−1 at 0°C, 3.1mmolg−1 at 25°C) at 0.95bar.