Heteroatom-doped carbon gels from phenols and heterocyclic aldehydes: Sulfur-doped carbon xerogels

Sulfur-doped carbon xerogels were obtained through carbonization of resorcino1/2-thiophenecarboxaldehyde organic gels. The acid-catalyzed sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol and 2-thiophenecarboxaldehyde leads to organic gels whose morphology and texture is dependent on the amount of catalyst used. As a result, monolithic organic gels with sulfur content of up to 19.6 wt.% and easily tailored properties can be produced. After carbonization, a substantial amount of sulfur is retained and porous carbon xerogels with S-content of up to 10 wt.% are produced (at 800 degrees C). Depending on the sol-gel synthesis conditions, monolithic S-doped carbon xerogels with controllable and enhanced mesoporosity, surface areas of up to 670 m(2)/g and enhanced mechanical integrity were obtained. Additional KOH activation of the organic or carbon xerogels enables production of micro-mesoporous carbons with surface areas of up to 2550 m(2)/g while retaining over 5 wt.% of sulfur. Preliminary CO2 adsorption measurements were performed. On the basis of resorcino1/2-thiophenecarboxaldehyde gel synthesis a more general approach towards heteroatom-doped carbon gels is proposed: sol-gel polymerization of phenols and heterocyclic aldehydes. Thus a variety of heteroatom-doped porous carbon materials with a tailored pore texture and morphology are available via this procedure. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.