Using phenol–formaldehyde resin as carbon source to synthesize mesoporous carbons of different pore structures

In this research communication, we performed the phenol–formaldehyde (PF) resin as an alternative carbon source and various mesostructured silicas as the nano-templates to conveniently prepare the mesoporous carbons of high surface area (850–1500 m2 g−1), large pore size (2.0–22.0 nm) and great pore volume (0.65–1.15 cm3 g−1). It was reasonably supposed that there exist interaction matching between the negative-charged silica surface of the silica template and PF resin. Therefore, the PF oligomers could be homogeneously adsorbed into the nanochannels or cages of the mesoporous silicas via an impregnation process. Because the thermosetting PF resin only requires a simple heat treatment process at 100 °C to form the cross-linked polymeric structure, the replication of the mesostructure of the mesoporous silica template could be readily achieved without adding any polymerization catalysts.