ADSORPTION PROPERTIES OF ORDERED MESOPOROUS CARBONS

Ordered mesoporous carbons constitute a new group of carbonaceous adsorbents reported for the first time by Ryoo et al. in 1999 [1]. The synthesis of these carbons involves the infiltration of the porous structure of an ordered mesoporous material with three-dimensional porous structure with an appropriate carbon precursor; carbonization; and dissolution of the silica template. Ordered mesoporous carbons have periodic carbon frameworks with unit-cell sizes of about 10 nm, but the frameworks themselves are disordered on the atomic scale. These carbons exhibit uniform mesopores several nanometers in width, which are accompanied by micropores in the carbon framework. First ordered mesoporous carbon was synthesized using MCM-48 silica as a template, but was not a faithful replica of the template because of a structural transformation that accompanied the template dissolution [1]. Subsequently, a disordered mesoporous carbon that retained the structure of the HMS silica template was also reported [2]. Later, the first ordered mesoporous carbon that was a faithful replica of the template was synthesized using SBA-15 silica template [3]. There is currently an appreciable interest in the synthesis, and characterization of ordered mesoporous carbons, as well as in their assessment for applications ranging from electronic devices to adsorbents and catalyst supports [4-7].