Ordered Nanoporous Carbon Structures Synthesized Using Large-pore Mesoporous Silica Templates

Poly(alkylene oxide)-type block copolymers have been recently shown to be particularly versatile as structure-directing agents for the preparation of ordered large-pore mesoporous silica materials. In principle, the structure direction is achieved through the formation of periodic supramolecular self-assemblies between the polymeric surfactants and a silica source in the aqueous solution. The organic polymers in the periodic nanocomposite materials are easily removed by calcination in air or extraction with solvents, to produce large-pore mesoporous silicas. Exceptional control of the phase behavior has been achieved using the triblock copolymers with butanol at low acid concentrations. This allows the phase control with various structures such as twodimensional hexagonal (2D-hex) p6mm (honeycomb-like structure, known as SBA-15), cubic Im3m (bcc packing of spherical nanopores), cubic Fm3m (fcc packing of nanopores) and cubic Ia3d (gyroid structure with bicontinuous mesoporosity) [1-4]. The pore topology and pore connectivity can be tailored as a function of the copolymer concentration, synthesis temperature, or volume fraction of the different copolymer blocks. The pore diameters are tunable, typically, in the range of 5 – 15 nm. Extensive researches on such structural and textural control have been recently reported, aiming at the design of functional nanoporous solids with various structures. Most notably, such mesoporous silicas turned out to be versatile templates for the synthesis of carbon materials with highly ordered nanoporous architectures. In the present work, ordered mesoporous carbons with various structures have been obtained via the template-directed synthesis route using large-pore mesoporous silicas. The various nanoporous structures of the carbons correspond to the faithful replication of the silica templates. Here, we present our recent progresses related to the synthesis and characterization of ordered mesoporous carbons using the large-pore ordered mesoporous silicas as templates.