Worm-hole structured mesoporous carbon monoliths synthesized with amphiphilic triblock copolymer

In the present work, mesoporous carbon monoliths with worm-hole structure had been synthesized through hydrothermal reaction by using amphiphilic triblock copolymer F127 and P123 as templates and resole as carbon precursor. Synthesis conditions, carbonization temperature and pore structure were studied by Fourier transform infrared, thermogravimetric analysis, transmission electron microscopy and N2 adsorption–desorption. The results indicated that the ideal pyrolysis temperature of the template is 450 °C. The organic ingredients were almost removed after further carbonized at 600 °C and the mesoporous carbon monoliths with worm-hole structure were obtained. The mesoporous carbon synthesized with P123 as single template exhibited larger pore size (6.6 nm), higher specific surface area (747 m2 g−1), lower pore ratio (45.9 %) in comparison with the mesoporous carbon synthesized with F127 as single template (with the corresponding value of 4.9 nm, 681 m2 g−1, 49.6 %, respectively), and also exhibited wider pore size distribution and lower structure regularity. Moreover, the higher mass ratio of template P123/resole induced similar pore size, larger specific surface area and lower pore ratio at the same synthesizing condition. It was also found that the textural structure of mesoporous carbon was affect by calcination atmosphere.