Abstract
The achievement of hierarchical zeolite templated carbons (ZTCs) is firstly reported through the use of mesoporous zeolites as sacrificial scaffolds. The achieved hierarchical ZTCs feature both tailored microporosity and high degree of mesoporosity and allow hence to bridge the gap between classical ZTCs and CMK-like materials. Mesoporosity from steamed zeolites was meticulously transcribed to the ZTC particles. The use of zeolites featuring surfactant-templated mesoporosity allowed for achieving a ZTC with a very high mesopore volume (0.85 cm3 g−1). The rearrangement of surfactant-templated mesoporosity could be evidenced through nitrogen physisorption and transmission electron microscopy on ultramicrotomed samples. The rearrangement of mesoporosity during ZTC formation has been found to impact coherent crystal size and the lattice strain of the zeolite template. The combination of data from X-ray diffraction and nitrogen physisorption allowed further to reveal that the thickness of the ZTC skeleton is impacted by the degree of intracrystalline mesoporosity in the template zeolite. Through comparing the textural characteristics of the zeolite templates and of the achieved hierarchical ZTCs, important evidence was found that the surfactant-templating of USY zeolite leads to the development of a secondary amorphous phase and that the reduction of the microporous volume during this process is merely apparent.
Highlights
Nano-casting technologies have revealed as very powerful strategies for the design of carbon materials featuring tailored textural properties [1]
Two mesoporous zeolites were used as templates for the synthesis of hierarchical zeolite templated carbons (ZTCs)
Zeolite templated carbons (ZTCs) featuring hierarchical porosity were achieved through the use of mesoporous zeolites as templates
Summary
Nano-casting technologies have revealed as very powerful strategies for the design of carbon materials featuring tailored textural properties [1]. Ethylene and acetylene, which can freely diffuse throughout the extended zeolite microporous systems have revealed very efficient for the development of zeolite templated carbons (ZTCs) of high structural quality [3,4]. A further very powerful strategy to tune the textural properties of materials is the development of porosity on various length scales [11] Such hierarchical porous systems prove advantageous in many applications such as adsorption and catalysis; due to the extreme reduction of the DPL [12]. The achievement of hierarchical ZTCs is susceptible to greatly improve their textural properties through shortening diffusion path lengths Such systems are very promising for increasing their performances in hydrogen and methane storage, in heterogeneous catalysis and for the development of advanced energy transformation systems [4,17]. The particular challenge when using hierarchical zeolites as templates of ZTCs is to achieve the thorough transcription of their textural features and in particular to avoid the formation of non-templated carbon during the synthesis
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