Synthesis of highly-ordered mesoporous carbon/silica nanocomposites and derivative hierarchically mesoporous carbon from a phenyl-bridged organosiloxane

Mesoporous carbon/silica nanocomposites and derivative hierarchically mesoporous carbon have been prepared using 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene (BTEB) as a precursor for a carbon/silica network and Pluronic P123 (HO(CH2CH2O)20(CH2CH(CH3)O)70(CH2CH2O)20H) as a template for highly-ordered hexagonal pores. Co-assembly of BTEB and P123 and subsequent carbonization results in a mesoporous carbon/silica nanocomposite with hexagonally oriented pores. Removal of the silica component in the carbon/silica network creates a second porosity in the network and results in hierarchically mesoporous carbon. The mesostructure of these materials was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and N2 sorption.