Fabrication of bimodal mesoporous carbons from petroleum pitch by a one-step nanocasting method

A one-step nanocasting method to prepare a bimodal mesoporous carbon from a highly hydrophobic carbon precursor, i.e., petroleum pitch, has been successfully developed by adopting tetrahydrofuran and hydrofluoric acid as solvent and catalyst, respectively, for the gelation reaction of tetraethyl orthosilicate and water. Experimental results show that the introduction of proper amounts of petroleum pitch does not hamper this gelation reaction, thus forming a uniform silica/carbon composite. It was found that the as-prepared nanoporous carbon has a three-dimensional 3.4 nm-sized wormholelike mesoporous network with well-distributed 17.1 nm-sized particlelike mesopores. Such a bimodal mesoporous carbon has a high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area (782 m2 g−1) and a very large total pore volume (3.0 cm3 g−1).