Templated Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbons with Tailored Structures and Morphologies

Due to the excellent biocompatibility and the capability to load and release drugs, ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) have been highly prospective and valuable in drug delivery system. In this contribution, synthesis of OMCs with tailored pore sizes from 4.1 to 3.4 nm was achieved by employing SBA-15 as template and furfuryl alcohol (FA) as carbon precursors. An array of OMCs with controlled structures and morphologies by incipient wetness with FA was analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Raman spectroscopy. The resulting carbon replicas retained the hexagonal symmetry of the silica templates SBA-15 with p6mm space group, although the framework suffered shrinkage in the replicated process. The pore size distribution, uniformity and pore volume of the mesopores in the OMCs were affected by structural properties of the SBA-15 templates as shown by N(2) sorption and XRD pattern analysis. The process had the advantage that the textural parameters of the obtained OMCs were tunable simply by varying aging temperature of the silica template and the ratio of carbon precursor.