Preparation and characterization of monodisperse, micrometer-sized, hierarchically porous carbon spheres as catalyst support

Monodisperse, micrometer-sized, hierarchically porous carbon spheres (PCS) were successfully fabricated by employing a hard template under hydrothermal condition and followed by further carbonization. D-Glucose and porous polymer microspheres modified with N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMGA) were used as carbon source and template, respectively. The porous carbon spheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and N-2 adsorption-desorption measurements. The results reveal that the PCS with amorphous colloidal structure are highly monodispersed and have a hierarchically pore size distribution. PCS with these features are excellent matrix for loading noble-metal nanoparticles. The PCS adsorb gold precursors and sub-sequently generate in situ Au nanoparticles (AuNPs). The deposited AuNPs with the size of 15-30 nm are well dispersed in PCS' pores. The resulting gold-carbon (Au/C) composite microspheres show high performance toward the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.