Preparation of mesoporous carbon with adjustable diameter and pore size

Mesoporous carbon (MC) has attracted extensive scientific and technological interest due to its fascinating and excellent properties. However, it remains a great challenge to synthesize MC materials with adjustable pore diameter and particle size, well-designed functionalities, uniform morphology, relatively high graphitization, and good repeatability. Herein, using mesoporous silicon (SiO2) as a template, we fabricated a locally ordered MC material with controllable pore size by the nanocasting strategy. The carbon material exhibited a large specific surface area (similar to 979 m(2)/g), relative high graphitization degree, adjustable pore size (2.85-5.79 nm), and particle diameter (79-194 nm). Different experimental conditions were regulated; the organic molecules (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) played an important role in the change of particle diameter, while the hydrothermal reaction time accurately controlled the pore size. This simple preparation approach simultaneously realized the independent design of the carbon structure and graphitization degree, which is conducive to the subsequent doping modification of carbon materials.