title: Synthesis of well-defined microporous carbons by molecular-scale templating with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane moieties.
abstract: Formation of a uniform interface between the carbon precursor and the selected template is critical for preparing high-quality nanoporous carbons. It can be accomplished by various templating procedures but still remains a challenge, especially for microporous carbons. A new strategy to fabricate well-defined microporous carbon nanosphere (MCNS) materials via molecular-scale interfacial engineering using an organic/inorganic hybrid molecule as the building block was designed. A commercially available octaphenyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane was selected as such a building block and transformed into the MCNS products via cross-linking of organic components, followed by carbonization, and subsequent removal of monodispersed silica domains, surrounded by molecular-scale carbon/silica interfaces. The obtained MCNS materials exhibit very large surface area (e.g., 2264 m(2)/g) and fast and selective sorption, and thus demonstrate excellent adsorption and supercapacitance properties. These findings could provide a new benchmark for preparing well-defined nanoporous carbons for various applications.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Institute, PCFM Lab and DSAPM Lab, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhenghui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dingcai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yeru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Ruowen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matyjaszewski
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D054118:Nanospheres / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology; D017646:Organosilicon Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D017646:Organosilicon Compounds; D002244:Carbon