Large pore volume carbons with uniform mesopores and macropores: Synthesis, characterization, and relations between adsorption parameters of silica templates and their inverse carbon replicas

Formation of thin polymeric films on the surface of silica templates consisting of relatively large colloids creates an opportunity to synthesize carbons with extremely large pore volume and uniform spherical mesopores and macropores. Namely, resorcinol-crotonaldehyde polymeric films formed on the silica templates composed of 50 and 80 nm colloids were used to obtain mesoporous carbons with unprecedented pore volume of about 9 cm(3)/g. Properties of the resulting carbons can be predicted with the help of theoretical equations, which correlate basic adsorption parameters for silica templates and silica-carbon composites.