Monodispersed nanoporous starburst carbon spheres and their three-dimensionally ordered arrays

Controlled syntheses of highly monodispersed nanoporous carbon spheres via a nanocasting route are described. Previously reported monodispersed super-microporous or mesoporous silica spheres with hexagonally ordered pore channels were used as sacrificial templates, and the effect of pore sizes of the templates on the porous properties of the nanocast carbon spheres was comprehensively studied. The resultant carbon spheres exhibited a unique starburst structure derived from radially-aligned pore channels in the silica template, and had a BET surface area of over 1000 m2g−1. It was found out that the radial alignment and sufficiently large pore size of hexagonally ordered pore channels in the silica spheres were effective to enhance the degree of order of the starburst structure in the nanocast carbon spheres and that ordered nanoporous carbon spheres could be obtained even from the MCM-41-type mesoporous silica. The diameters of the nanoporous carbon spheres were controlled in the sub-micrometer range by changing the sizes of silica templates. Furthermore, three-dimensionally ordered arrays consisting of nanoporous carbon spheres were successfully fabricated via the self-assembly of mesoporous silica/carbon composite spheres and the subsequent dissolution of the silica templates.