Synthesis of mesoporous carbon foams templated by organic colloids

Resorcinol/formaldehyde (RF) sols have useful similarities to silica sols in that both are anionic at high pH and capable of hydrogen bonding at low pH. These similarities can be exploited to prepare composite materials analogously to the synthesis of siliceous mesocellular foams (Si-MCFs). Microemulsion-polymerized polystyrene (PS) microspheres were used as templates to produce composite materials with RF polymer. Upon pyrolysis under argon, these PS/RF composites yielded mesoporous carbon foams (C-MCFs) in which the pore size was roughly two-thirds that of the template. Syntheses without the template did not produce mesoporous materials. These C-MCFs can be synthesized quickly and have properties similar to those of carbon aerogels with the same density.