Competing hydrogen bonding produces mesoporous/macroporous carbons templated by a high-molecular-weight poly(caprolactone-b-ethylene oxide-b-caprolactone) triblock copolymer

In this study we developed a simple strategy to synthesize macro- and mesoporous carbons by using a high-molecular-weight triblock copolymer, PCL440-b-PEO454-b-PCL440 (CEC), as a single template, itself prepared through simple ring-opening polymerization from a commercial homopolymer (HO-PEO454-OH) as the bifunctional macroinitiator and a resol-type phenolic resin as the carbon source. We employed differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering to investigate the thermal behavior, hydrogen bonding, and self-assembled nanostructures of the phenolic/CEC blends. We obtained macro- and mesoporous carbons possessing cylinder or spherical micelle structures with large pores (> 50 nm) and high surface areas (>400 m(2) g(-1)), the result of most of the phenolic OH units preferring to interact (based on FTIR spectral analyses) with the PEO segment rather than the PCL segment. These macro/mesoporous carbons displayed reasonable CO2 uptake and energy storage behavior.