A family of highly ordered mesoporous polymer resin and carbon structures from organic-organic self-assembly

The syntheses of a family of highly ordered mesoporous polymers and carbon frameworks from organic-organic assembly of triblock copolymers with soluble, low-molecular-weight phenolic resin precursors (resols) by an evaporation induced self-assembly strategy have been reported in detail. The family members include two-dimensional hexagonal (space group, p6m), three-dimensional bicontinuous (Ia3d), body-centered cubic (Im3m), and lamellar mesostructures, which are controlled by simply adjusting the ratio of phenol/template or polyethylene oxide)/poly(propylene oxide) in the templates. A five-step mechanism from organic-organic assembly has been demonstrated. Cubic FDU-14 with a gyroidal mesostructure of polymer resin or carbon has been synthesized for the first time by using the copolymer Pluronic P1 23 as a template in a relatively narrow range. Upon calcination at 350°C, the templates should be removed to obtain mesoporous polymers, and further heating at above a critical temperature of 600°C transforms the mesoporous polymers to the homologous carbon frameworks. The mesoporous polymer resin and carbon product materials exhibit ordered structures, high surface areas, (670-1490 m ²/g), large pore volumes (0.65-0.85 cm ³/g), and uniform, large pore sizes (7.0-3.9 nm), as well as very thick pore walls (6-8 nm). The carbon open frameworks with covalently bonded constructions and thick pore walls exhibit high thermal stability (> 1400°C). Our results show that the feed gas used during the calcination has a great influence on the porosity of the products. The presence of a small amount of oxygen facilitates the large pore sizes and high surface areas of mesoporous materials with different mesostructures. An extraction method employing sulfuric acid can also decompose the template from hexagonal mesostructured polymers with little framework shrinkage. Preliminary studies of the mechanical and electrochemical properties of mesoporous carbon molecular sieves are also presented.