Adsorption and structural properties of ordered mesoporous carbons synthesized by soft-templating in the presence of boric acid and tetraethyl orthosilicate

Boron-containing mesoporous carbon materials were prepared using resorcinol and formaldehyde as carbon precursors, boric acid as a boron precursor and poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)poly(ethylene oxide) triblock copolymer (Pluronic F127) as a soft template. Another series of boron-containing samples was prepared by using the same chemicals in the presence of tetraethyl orthosilicate. Nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction, NH3 temperature programmed desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis revealed that the resulting boron-carbon materials possessed acidic sites, high surface area ranging from 1047 to 1400 m(2) g(-1), large mesopores of about 10 nm, uniform pore size distribution, and high boron content (1.5-1.8%).