Constructing a multicomponent ordered mesoporous carbon for improved electrochemical performance induced by in-situ doping phosphorus

The functional phosphorus-containing ordered mesoporous carbon (POMC) films are facilely fabricated through in-situ evaporation-induced self-assembly strategy using phosphorus-modified resol as the carbon precursor and triblock copolymer as the soft template agent. The in-situ introduction of phosphorus not only promotes pyrolysis reaction of carbon source but also benefits for aromatization of carbon via polycondensation reaction, and thus significantly enhances graphitization of ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) materials even prepared at a very low temperature (500 °C) together with desirable porosity and conductivity. As a result, POMC film shows improved corrosion resistance in comparison with pristine OMC film, due to its excellent hydrophobicity and high graphitization. Moreover, benefiting from the ordered mesoporous structure, enhanced graphitization, doping of phosphorus, and high dispersion of Pt nanoparticles, the designed POMC composite can also be acted as a Pt catalyst support, resulting in much higher electrocatalytic activities for both hydrogen oxidation and methanol oxidation than that of OMC film. This work offers an effective approach to enhance relative performance of ordered mesoporous carbon materials for device applications.