Simple hydrothermal synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbons from resorcinol and hexamine

Hexamine has been used as a release source of formaldehyde towards the self-assembly synthesis of resorcinol/formaldehyde (RF) resin-based mesoporous carbons under hydrothermal conditions. The obtained mesoporous carbons exhibit the micrometer-sized, sphere-like morphology and a high surface area. The use of hexamine instead of formaldehyde efficiently harnesses the organic-organic self-assembly of RF resin and block copolymer. Ordered mesostructures can be obtained over a wide range of hydrothermal temperature without the extra addition of inorganic bases or acids as catalysts. The method described here has the advantage of being a one-pot procedure and only involves the use of several organic precursors in an aqueous system. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.