title: Characterization of the pore structure of three-dimensionally ordered mesoporous carbons using high resolution gas sorption.
abstract: The use of colloidal crystals with various primary particle sizes as templates leads to the formation of three-dimensionally ordered mesoporous (3DOm) carbons containing spherical pores with tailorable pore size and extremely high pore volumes. We present a comprehensive structural characterization of these novel carbons by using nitrogen (77.4 K) and argon (87.3 K) adsorption coupled with the application of novel, dedicated quenched solid density functional theory (QSDFT) methods which assume correctly the underlying spherical pore geometry and also the underlying adsorption mechanism. The observed adsorption isotherms are of Type IV with Type H1-like hysteresis, despite the fact that pore blocking affects the position of the desorption branch. This follows also from detailed, advanced scanning hysteresis experiments which not only allow one to identify the underlying mechanisms of hysteresis, but also provide complementary information about the texture of these unique porous materials. This work addresses the problem of pore size analysis of novel, ordered porous carbons and highlights the importance of hysteresis scanning experiments for textural analysis of the pore network.
authors.affiliation: Quantachrome Instruments, Boynton Beach, Florida 33426, United States.
authors.forename: Katie A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Cychosz
authors.forename: Xuefeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cimino
authors.forename: Gennady Yu
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Gor
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsapatsis
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Neimark
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thommes
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D001128:Argon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D016062:Porosity; D011312:Pressure; D011789:Quantum Theory; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001128:Argon; D002244:Carbon; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D009584:Nitrogen