Ordered mesoporous carbon monoliths: CVD nanocasting and hydrogen storage properties

We report on the use of a chemical vapor deposition to nanocast ordered mesoporous carbon monoliths using mesoporous silica monoliths as template. The size and shape of the silica monolith template are well retained in the carbon resulting in a mechanically robust mesoporous carbon monolith. A relatively high level of mesostructural ordering is observed in the carbon monolith, which has surface area and pore volume of 1090 m(2)/g and 0.75 cm(3)/g, respectively. The carbon monolith exhibits limited microporosity (micropore surface area of 156 m(2)/g). The surface area and pore volume of the carbon monolith was higher than that of the silica template (553 m(2)/g and 0.5 cm(3)/g). The carbon in the monolith is mainly amorphous with a small proportion of graphitic carbon. As far as we are aware, this is the first successful attempt to generate ordered mesoporous carbon monoliths via chemical vapor nanocasting. The chemical vapor nanocasting route offers the advantage of improved mesostructural ordering in the carbon monolith. The mesoporous carbon monolith exhibits considerable hydrogen uptake; we obtained a hydrogen uptake capacity, at 20 bar and -196 degrees C, of up to 3.4 wt %. The hydrogen uptake capacity is comparable to that of CMK-3 mesoporous carbon powder samples.