Structured carbon adsorbents from clay, zeolite and mesoporous aluminosilicate templates Original Research Article

Porous carbons templated from inorganic materials such as zeolites and mesoporous molecular sieves received considerable attention in the last decade. In this context, we discuss the effects of different templating structures on the carbons yielded. We describe templating using a commercial cationic clay (Wyoming bentonite), a commercial zeolite (Tosoh H-Beta) and a synthetic mesoporous aluminosilicate (Al-MCM-48), as exemplars of the categories of inorganic templates we have studied. The main carbon precursor used was furfuryl alcohol, complemented in some materials by an additional treatment using propylene carbon vapour deposition. The structures of the templates and carbons were compared using electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. Carbons were further characterised with elemental analysis and nitrogen adsorption. The templating process is more complex than previously reported; the combination of these different techniques enhances the understanding of its mechanisms. A careful study of the synthesised carbons’ pore size distributions using DFT with various pore geometries was carried out and comparison with two commercial carbon adsorbents made, in order to assess the potential of such templated carbons for gas separation and gas storage.