One-pot synthesis of boron-doped mesoporous carbon with boric acid as a multifunction reagent

An effective method for modification of ordered mesoporous carbons is to dope boron incorporated into carbon network for improving their properties in many aspects. A one-pot synthesis is proposed with the combination of boron doping and fabrication of mesoporous carbon through sol-gel method using boric acid as the catalyst, dopant and pore-forming agent. The as-prepared materials were characterized by TEM, small-angle and wide-angle XRD, Raman, nitrogen sorption, SEM, XPS and B-11 MAS NMR measurements. And the comprehensive analysis shows the homogeneous dispersion of boron incorporated into the mesoporous carbon and indicates the presence of different boron chemical environments in the carbon. The short-cut route can simplify the synthesis process and get homogeneous dispersion of boron in carbon in both energy- and time-saving fashions, which provides a new strategy for making doped carbon materials. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.