Metal- and halogen-free synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon materials

Mesoporous carbon materials are of great interest as catalyst supports. However, the presence of impurities such as the metal or halide ions which are often used to catalyse the polymerisation and condensation reactions in their preparation can be poisonous to the final catalyst product. For this reason, in this work, metal- and halogen-free mesoporous polymer and carbon materials (OMCs) were synthesised using a modified two phase method employing alternative polymerisation and condensation catalysts. The OMC materials synthesised exhibit a highly ordered two dimensional hexagonal arrangement of cylindrical mesopores, as revealed by small angle XRD, gas physisorption and TEM analysis, and have typical specific surface areas of ca. 600 m²/g, pore size of ca. 7.0 nm, and pore volume of approximately 0.60 cm³/g. Their physical evolution with increasing calcination temperature is examined as are the effects of varying synthesis parameters on the nature of the final mesostructure.