Template synthesis of mesoporous carbons from mesostructured silica by vapor deposition polymerisation

A new method of preparing mesoporous carbons by templating mesoporous silicas is described. Two types of mesostructured silicas were used as templates, a 2-D hexagonally ordered silica (SBA-15 type) and a silica with a disordered structure (3-D). The carbon precursor was infiltrated into the pore network of the silica via adsorption in the vapor phase at room temperature. This is a simple procedure, which makes it possible for the amount of infiltrated carbon to be accurately controlled and uniformly deposited. In this way, the resulting carbon retains the structural order of the silica used as template. By applying this procedure to a disordered mesoporous silica, a mesoporous carbon with unique characteristics (i.e. a very large surface area and pore volume, and a well-defined bimodal pore system formed by mesopores centred at 3 nm and at 12 nm) was synthesised.