Synthesis of highly ordered ir-containing mesoporous carbon materials by organic-organic self-assembly

By simply adjusting the molar ratio of resorcinol (R) to formaldehyde (F) and optimizing the aging time of the gel, highly ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) have been synthesized under strong acidic conditions through aqueous self-assembly of R/F with triblock copolymer F127, without addition of any promoters. It was found that both the excess amount of R (R/F >= 1/2) and the long aging time (96 h) were favorable to the formation of the OMC. This facile route was further extended to the synthesis of highly ordered iridium-containing mesoporous carbons (Ir-OMC) by adding H2IrCl6 to the reaction mixture. The resultant Ir-OMCs were characterized by nitrogen sorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that iridium particles, with sizes of similar to 2 nm, were highly dispersed in the carbon matrix, while the ordered mesostructure of carbons remained well. Comparing with the Ir/OMC sample prepared by postimpregnation, such one-pot synthesized Ir-OMC samples had smaller Ir particles sizes and therefore exhibited higher activities and stabilities toward the catalytic decomposition of N2H4.