Synthesis of mesoporous carbon supports via liquid impregnation of polystyrene onto a MCM-48 silica template

Mesoporous MCM-48 was synthesised and used as a template to synthesise mesoporous carbon materials. Polystyrene, the carbon source, together with sulfuric acid and toluene were added to the template (160 °C for 6 h) and this procedure generated a low surface area carbon supported/MCM-48 material. A repeat addition and carbonisation step was needed to form the precursor carbon/MCM-48 material that was pyrolysed at 900 °C to generate graphitic mesoporous carbon materials, characterised by XRD, HR-TEM, Raman spectroscopy and surface area analysis. The effect of the amount of polystyrene as well as the role of the pyrolysis temperature on the final product was investigated. This synthesis methodology can readily be controlled to produce partially ordered graphitic mesoporous carbon supports with predictable pore width and surface area.