Ordered mesoporous carbon prepared from triblock copolymer/novolac composites

Ordered mesoporous carbon is synthesized by the organic-organic self-assembly method with novolac as carbon precursor and two kinds of triblock copolymers (Pluronic F127 and P123) as template. The hexagonal structure and a worm-hole structure are observed by TEM. The carbonization temperature is determined by TG and FT-IR. Characterization of physical properties of mesoporous carbon is executed by N₂ absorption-desorption isotherms and XRD. The mass ratios of carbon precursor/template affect the textural properties of mesoporous carbon. The mesoporous carbon with F127/PF of 1/1 has lager surface area (670 m² g^-1), pore size (3.2 nm), pore volume (0.40 cm³ g^-1), smaller microporous surface area (368 m² g^-1) and wall thickness (3.7 nm) compare to that with F127/PF of 0.5/1 (576 m² g^-1, 2.7 nm, 0.29 cm ³ g^-1, 409 m² g^-1 and 4.3 nm, respectively). The mesoporous carbon prepared by carbonization at high temperature (700 °C) exhibits lager surface area, lower pore size and pore volume than the corresponding one obtained at 500 °C. The structure and order of the resulting materials are notably affected with types of templates. The mesoporous carbon with P123 as template exhibits worm-hole structure compare to that with F127 as template with hexagonal structure. In general, the pore size of mesoporous carbon with novolac as precursor is smaller than that with resorcinol-formaldehyde as precursor.