Synthesis Of Mesoporous Carbon Research Articles

Mesoporous carbons from self‐assembled polymers

AbstractPolymer self‐assembly provides a robust and cost‐efficient nanomanufacturing platform for enabling a broad range of applications, such as microelectronics, drug delivery, and separation membranes. This review focuses on discussing the progress and opportunities of self‐assembled polymer in the synthesis of mesoporous carbons (MCs), which have aroused significant research interests over the past decades. Specifically, we will discuss the two most established approaches for converting nanostructured polymers to MCs, including templating‐based and direct pyrolysis‐based methods. We will also review the fundamental ordering mechanisms and kinetics of these polymeric systems and discuss the recent development of engineering methods for providing on‐demand control over the pore size and morphology of MCs. Additionally, this review article also includes a section focusing on the strategies to further functionalize these materials from self‐assembled polymers to enhance their performance, such as chemical activation, heteroatom doping, introduction of nanoparticles into the carbon matrix, and enhancing graphitization degree of carbon walls. Finally, a brief perspective is provided about the emerging research opportunity in this exciting field.

Synthesis of Mesoporous Carbon from Merbau Sawdust as a Nickel Metal Catalyst Support for Castor Oil Hydrocracking

Synthesis of mesoporous carbon from merbau sawdust with H2O2 as activator using reflux method followed by carbonization at 800 °C (RC800) had been carried out. This research is aiming to produce effective pathway to synthesize effective nickel-mesoporous carbon catalyst. The nickel metal was impregnated on the mesoporous carbon by wet impregnation using the salt precursor of Ni(NO3)2∙6H2O. The results showed that carbon RC800 and C800 had a specific surface area of 135.18 and 182.48 m2/g. Specific surface area of Ni/RC800 and Ni/C800 catalyst were 41.31 and 7.15 m2/g, respectively. The metal content in Ni/RC800 and Ni/C800 catalyst were 0.83 and 0.92 wt%, respectively. Ni/RC800 catalyst had the highest acidity (7.64 mmol/g) compared to Ni/C800 catalyst (6.99 mmol/g), RC800 (97.43 mmol/g), and C800 (6.17 mmol/g). The Ni/RC800 catalyst has the highest activity with the liquid product conversion of 66.01 wt%. Its selectivity towards gasoline fraction, diesel fraction, alcohol, and organic was 8.06, 1.17, 2.61, and 54.13%, respectively. Copyright © 2022 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Development of facile synthesized mesoporous carbon composite adsorbent for efficient CO2 capture

Amine-functionalized adsorbents show broad application prospects in the field of flue gas CO2 capture. However, the development of support materials with excellent CO2 capture performance and facile synthesis method is still a challenge. In this work, mesoporous carbon (MC) with the ultra large pore volume of 3.1 cm3/g is synthesized by direct carbonization of the mixture of adipic acid and zinc powder without further chemical/physical activation process. The synthesized MC was then impregnated with tetraethylenepent amine (TEPA) to prepare the adsorbent. The formed ultra large pore volume and abundant mesopores structure could promote adsorption active site dispersion, thereby improving CO2 adsorption performance. As a result, the MC support loaded with 80 wt% TEPA exhibits a large CO2 capture amount of 5.3 mmol/g at 75 ℃ with 15 vol%CO2. In addition, the carbon dioxide adsorption capacity is only 8.1 % less than that of the fresh adsorbent after 10 adsorption cycles, indicating that this adsorbent has excellent cycling stability. Noted that the synthesis of MC significantly improves the CO2 adsorption performance while simplifying the support material preparation process. Thus, it is believed that the MC material is promising adsorbent support for highly efficient CO2 capture.

Mesoporous Carbon: A Versatile Material for Scientific Applications.

Mesoporous carbon is a promising material having multiple applications. It can act as a catalytic support and can be used in energy storage devices. Moreover, mesoporous carbon controls body’s oral drug delivery system and adsorb poisonous metal from water and various other molecules from an aqueous solution. The accuracy and improved activity of the carbon materials depend on some parameters. The recent breakthrough in the synthesis of mesoporous carbon, with high surface area, large pore-volume, and good thermostability, improves its activity manifold in performing functions. Considering the promising application of mesoporous carbon, it should be broadly illustrated in the literature. This review summarizes the potential application of mesoporous carbon in many scientific disciplines. Moreover, the outlook for further improvement of mesoporous carbon has been demonstrated in detail. Hopefully, it would act as a reference guidebook for researchers about the putative application of mesoporous carbon in multidimensional fields.

Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Impregnated Mesoporous Carbon as Heterogeneous Catalyst for Phenylacetylene Carboxylation with Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a compound that can potentially be used as a carbon source in the synthesis of fine chemicals. However, the utilization of CO2 is still constrained due to its inert and stable nature. Therefore, the presence of a catalyst is needed in CO2 conversion. This study aims to synthesize copper impregnated mesoporous carbon (Cu/MC) as a catalyst for phenylacetylene carboxylation reaction with CO2 to produce phenylpropiolic acid. The synthesis of mesoporous carbon was performed via the soft template method. The as-synthesized Cu/MC material was characterized by FTIR, SAA, XRD, and SEM-EDX. BET surface area analysis of mesoporous carbon showed that the material has a high surface area of 405.8 m2/g with an average pore diameter of 7.2 nm. XRD pattern of Cu/MC indicates that Cu has been successfully impregnated in the form of Cu(0) and Cu(I). Phenylacetylene carboxylation reaction with CO2 was carried out by varying reaction temperatures (25, 50, and 75 °C), amount of catalyst (28.6, 57.2, and 85.8 mg), type of base (Cs2CO3, K2CO3, and Na2CO3), and variation of support. The reaction mixtures were analyzed by HPLC and showed that the highest phenylacetylene conversion of 41% was obtained for the reaction at 75 °C using Cs2CO3 as a base.

Mesoporous carbon nanomaterials with tunable geometries and porous structures fabricated by a surface-induced assembly strategy

Mesoporous carbon (MC) nanomaterials have received intensive investigation in the past decades. However, the synthesis of MC with controllable morphologies and porous structures still remains challenging. Herein, we report a surface-induced assembly strategy to construct MC with various geometries and porous structures, using one-dimensional (1D) surface-modified multiwalled carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide nanosheets as morphological inducers. Positively charged polyaniline (PANI) and silica (SiO2) nanoparticles that serve as carbon source and pore template, respectively, were used to produce SiO2@PANI aggregations in hydrochloric acid media via S+X−I+ assembly pathway, which nucleate and grow on the negatively charged inducer surfaces through electrostatic interaction. MC nanomaterials with precisely tunable dimensions (1D to 2D), diameters (35-210 nm), thicknesses (7-145 nm), and pore sizes (7-22 nm) are successfully fabricated. More importantly, this method can be extended to other morphological inducers that contain negatively charged surfaces, such as Ti3C2Tx. The electrodes based on the MC nanomaterials demonstrate excellent energy storage performance in flexible sulfur electrodes and supercapacitors. Our findings shed light on a new strategy to prepare various MC for energy storage.

Study on synthesis of mesoporous carbon from MOF-199 metal-organic framework as potential adsorbent

Porous carbon material is one of the most common and very important for various applications thank to its high surface area and adsorption capability. In this study, mesoporous carbon was prepared by thermal decomposition of copper-based metal-organic framework MOF-199 under inert atmosphere and followed by immersing in diluted HNO3 solution in order to remove metal/metal oxide and activation of the resultant porous carbon. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that as-prepared material remained intact octahedral morphology of pre-pyrolysis MOF structure, and product has spongy structure with specific surface area of 375 m2/g as measured using N2 adsorption isotherm (BET), which can be employed as an effective adsorbent.

Synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbons by Teflon-assisted removal of silica template in tri-constituent co-assembly for supercapacitors

The synthesis of mesoporous carbon through tri-constituent co-assembly by introduction of silica as supporting is amenable to improve the surface area and porosity. However, this is a multistep process along with contamination from the use of toxic HF solution to remove the silica template. Herein, a “green” and one-pot method is demonstrated to prepare ordered mesoporous carbon with high surface area (1160 m2 g−1) by direct addition of Teflon into tri-constituent phases (including soft template, carbon, and silica source) for co-assembly and followed by pyrolysis. During the high-temperature treatment, the removal of soft template and silica support (can fast reacts with Teflon) and carbonization process are simultaneously accomplished to yield the carbon product with hierarchically porous structure including bimodal mesopores centered at 2.4 and 4.5 nm and abundant micropores. The resulting mesoporous carbon demonstrates an excellent electrochemical performance of 186 F g−1 at a discharge current of 1 A g−1 in 6 M NaOH. It can be attributed to both the hierarchically microporous/mesoporous structure and high surface area allowing the efficient transportation of ions into the carbon matrix. This mesoporous carbon also exhibits a good cycling stability with capacitance retention of ~ 97% over 5000 cycles.

Synthesis of Magnetic Ordered Mesoporous Carbons (OMC) as an Electrochemical Platform for Ultrasensitive and Simultaneous Detection of Thebaine and Papaverine

Coal particles (<44 micron) in solid phase were used to successful synthesis of the magnetic ordered mesoporous carbons (MnFe2O4-OMC) in the present research. A tubular reactor was used to do reaction. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were applied to characterize the as-synthesized samples. Consequently, synthesis of mesoporous carbon was observed in tubular form. In order to prove its utilization, the as-prepared MnFe2O4-OMC has been applied as a modifier for simultaneous electro-chemical detection of thebaine and papaverine. It has been demonstrated that the electrode response has been linear from 0.01 and 500.0 μM with a limit of detection of 0.0036 and 0.01 μM (3 s m−1) through DPV for thebaine and papaverine. Moreover, modified electrode has been employed for determining thebaine and papaverine in urine specimens.

Synthesis of mesoporous carbon with tunable pore size for supercapacitors

Mesoporous carbon (MC) has wide applications, including in drug delivery, catalysis, absorption, energy storage/conversion, etc.

Synthesis of Mesoporous Carbon Using Waste Orange Peel As an Anode Material for Potassium-Ion Batteries with Long Cyclability

Potassium‐ion batteries (PIBs) have been considered as the most promising candidate due to their low cost and high safety to replace the Li-ion batteries. However, current graphite anode cannot encounter the demands for high storage capacity and low cost, which are required for the commercial PIBs. Thus, it is needed to discover porous carbon anode material with high capacity, longer cycle life, low cost, and environment friendless for PIBs. Porous carbon is regarded as an attractive anode material for PIBs due to its high conductivity, chemical stability, and expanded interlayer spacing, which can helpful to accommodate more K-ions. In particular, biomass derived porous carbon has the advantages as a renewable and low cost carbon source. It can also provide excellent 3-D porous nanostructure for high storage capacity and long cyclability in batteries. Among the biomass wastes, 15.6 million tons of orange peel is discarded every year. It may be very useful if we can use these wastes as a resource for an electrode of batteries. Orange peel is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin, which are known as excellent carbon precursors. In this study, we fabricated mesoporous carbon from orange peel through a facile one step carbonization approach without introducing extra activation agents. The mesoporous carbon displayed the first discharge and charge capacities of 408 and 224 mAh g-1, respectively, corresponding to a Coulombic efficiency of 55%. Even after 100 cycles, the electrode maintained a high capacity 210 mA g-1. When the specific current is further increased to 200 mA g-1, the high specific capacity of 150 mA g-1 was still achieved, which corresponds to a capacity retention of 80% after 2000 cycles. This superior cycling stability is attributed to the improved ionic diffusion kinetics and electronic conductivity resulting from the mesoporous structure and large interlayer spacing. Furthermore, a full cell composed of mesoporous carbon anode and potassium Prussian blue cathode displayed an adequate electrochemical performance.

Effect of thermolysis condition on characteristics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) absorbability of Fe-MIL-88B-derived mesoporous carbons

Discharge of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) from wastewater has been increasingly alarmed, led to the advent of the treatment techniques. Among these methods, adsorption is regarded as a tunable and green approach with the utilization of mesoporous carbon (MC) as an efficient and recyclable adsorbent. Herein, we described the strategy for the synthesis of novel MC from Fe-MIL-88B as a self-sacrificial template. Three thermolysis temperatures (550, 750, and 950 °C) were investigated to compare the structural characteristics and absorbability towards selected NSAIDs compounds including diclofenac sodium (DCF), aspirin (APR), and ibuprofen (IBU). Effect of contact time (0–480 min), concentration (10–40 mg/L), pH (2–10), and MC dosage (0.1–0.5 g/L) was systematically studied. Kinetic and isotherm models were also used to find out the adsorption mechanism and behavior of NSAIDs pharmaceutical over MC materials. Proposed mechanism and recyclability test were rigorously studied to gain more insight into how the NSAIDs molecules adsorb on the MC materials and their potential towards drug treatment.

Synthesis of Mesoporous Carbon from Merbau Wood (&lt;i&gt;Intsia spp.&lt;/i&gt;) by Microwave Method as Ni Catalyst Support for α-Cellulose Hydrocracking

Synthesis of mesoporous carbon from Merbau wood (Intsia spp.) waste by microwave method as nickel catalyst support for α-cellulose hydrocracking had been carried out. The Merbau wood sawdust was carbonized at 800 °C to produce C800 and the C800 was treated by microwave irradiation (399 W) for 5 min to produce C800MW. The Merbau wood flakes, which were only treated by microwave irradiation (399 Watts) for 30 min produced CMW. Wet impregnation technique was carried out to disperse the Ni metal (1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 wt.%) onto the best mesoporous carbon. The mesoporous carbons were analyzed by Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR), Surface Area Analyzer (SAA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The hydrocracking of pyrolyzed α-cellulose was carried out at 400 °C. The liquid product was analyzed by Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS). The results showed that the C800MW was the best performance carbon and it had a specific surface area, total pore volume, average pore diameter and acidity of 364.12 m2/g, 0.28 cm3/g, 3.03 nm, and 2.18 mmol/g, respectively. The Ni1.5/C800MW catalyst produced the highest conversion of liquid product (58.76 wt.%) than the Ni1/C800MW (57.51 wt.%) and Ni2/C800MW (34.18 wt.%).

Tailoring the porosity of a mesoporous carbon by a solvent-free mechanochemical approach

The synthesis of mesoporous carbons with well-defined and tailored pores conventionally involves the use of solvents and proceeds via multiple synthesis steps such as template synthesis and precursor infiltration. In this work, a solvent-free mechanochemical polymerization is used to derive mesoporous carbons with narrow pore size distributions and specific surface areas of up to 1660 m2 g−1. The size of the mesopores can be tailored by simply adjusting milling parameters like the milling speed. Finally, the carbons have been applied as supercapacitors through a new approach - the ‘in situ electrolyte’ concept. This holistic concept does not treat the accumulating by-products of the carbon synthesis as waste, but rather utilizes them directly as electrolyte salts. With this, washing steps are circumvented and the use of any solvent becomes obsolete.

A Novel Emulsion-Based Replica Method for the Synthesis of Mesoporous Carbon.

We present a novel approach for the synthesis of large-pore mesoporous carbon with a highly porous structure, based on an oil/water (O/W) emulsion templating method. For the formation of oil-in-water emulsions with nanoscale oil droplets, polyvinylpyrrolidone was used as an emulsifier. Mesoporous carbon materials with large mesopores were successfully synthesized via a three-step process: (1) polymerization in the oil-in-water emulsion, (2) filtration, and (3) carbonization. We confirmed that the pore size of the carbon can be significantly reduced through a modified O/W emulsion method. The mesoporous carbon materials prepared without an activation step exhibited an appreciable surface area (705 m2/g) and a noticeable capacitive performance of ∼100 F/g at 2.0 A/g. We believe that the approach presented here can be widely applied to the synthesis of mesoporous carbon using various carbon sources, and the structural properties of the mesoporous carbon can be improved through proper optimization.

Facile synthesis of mesoporous carbons with tailored porosity by a fast polymerization

Mesoporous carbons (MCs) with controllable pore structure and pore size have been prepared by direct carbonization of composites of reverse compolymer-phloroglucinol/formaldehyde. The microstructure of the MCs was analyzed by small-angle X-ray scattering, nitrogen adsorption isotherms and transmission electron microscope. The results showed the pore size of the obtained MCs can be easily tuned from 6.4 to 11.4 nm. Furthermore, the inkbottle-like or cylindrical pore structure of MCs can be obtained by simply adjusting the ratios of formaldehyde and phloroglucinol.

One-step synthesis of mesoporous carbons from mixed resources by microwave-assisted phosphoric acid activation for supercapacitors

Mesoporous carbons (MCs) for supercapacitors were prepared from mixed resources, rice husk and sucrose, by microwave-assisted H3PO4 activation. The surface area of MC6–2–2 made at the H3PO4/rice husk/sucrose mass ratio of 6:2:2 in 20 min heating time at 600 W microwave power reaches 1399 m2 g−1, higher than that of MC8–2–0 made at the H3PO4/rice husk mass ratio of 4. MC6–2–2 retains a high specific capacitance of 150 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 after 500 cycles, showing perfect cycle stability. The environment-friendly MCs with low H3PO4 cost exhibit high energy density even at high current density and perfect cycle stability due to the existence of large mesopores.

Synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon using m-Diethynylbenzene as a new precursor

m-Diethynylbenzene (m-DEB) was used for the first time as a precursor in the synthesis of mesoporous carbons(OMCs) via the wet infiltration method. The results from X-Ray powder diffraction, Transmission electron microscopy, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and TGA curves confirmed that after carbonization at 800°C, 1000°C, 1200°C and removal of the template, OMCs with very narrow pore size distributions (centered at about 4nm), high order and relative high thermal stability(as high as 600°C for OMC-800) were obtained. This work provided a facile way to prepare ordered mesoporous carbon materials with relative high thermal stability.

Synthesis of mesoporous carbons and reduced graphene oxide and their influence on the cycling performance of rechargeable Li-O2 batteries

In the lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) cell, the porous structure of the cathode is an important issue as well as challenge for its task of accommodating discharge products and providing free paths for oxygen. Clogging of pores and degradation of materials at the cathode affect the discharge rates and cycling performance of Li-O2 cell. Based on the study of five synthesized nanostructured porous carbons, namely, 2-D ordered mesoporous carbon C-15, 3-D ordered mesoporous carbons C-16 and C-16B with larger pores, hollow core mesoporous shell carbon (HCMSC), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), we found that the type and pore structure of the carbon significantly affect the electrochemical performance of the cell. Both C-15 and rGO cathodes demonstrate good cell cycleability, while the HCMSC, with its interesting bimodal pore system, is not favorable for further improving cycling performance. The C-16B has similar morphology and electrolyte wettability of C-16. However, the former possesses larger pores, and such porosity significantly improves the cell cycleability up to 44 cycles, corresponding to an extended operation life of 850 h.

Synthesis of mesoporous carbons with controlled morphology and pore diameters from SBA-15 prepared through the microwave-assisted process and their CO2 adsorption capacity

Mesoporous carbon materials (CMK-3-T-MW) with high surface area, different pore diameters and rod shaped morphology were synthesized via nanocasting technique using the SBA-15 templates prepared by ultra-fast microwave-assisted process under static condition. The combined microwave and static approach offers the highly ordered rod shaped morphology to the SBA-15 template, which was successfully replicated into the mesoporous carbon materials. By tuning the synthesis temperature of the template, it is possible to fabricate mesoporous carbons with different pore diameters and specific surface areas. These excellent materials can be utilized for various applications and here we demonstrate their use as adsorbents for CO2 molecules. A significant enhancement in the adsorption of CO2 was achieved for the mesoporous carbon with rod shaped morphology, large pore diameter and high surface area. The adsorption capacity of CMK-3-T-MW was also compared with commercially available activated carbon, multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and 2D and 3D highly basic mesoporous carbon nitrides (MCNs). The CO2 adsorption capacity of mesoporous carbon with controlled morphology is 24.4 mmol/g at 273 K and 30 bar pressure which is much higher than that of mesoporous carbon CMK-3-HT (20.3 mmol/g at the same conditions) prepared by the conventional hydrothermal method, activated carbons, MWCNTs, and MCNs.