Mesoporous Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Materials with Frank-Kasper Phases Templated by an Unusual Linear Symmetry Diblock Copolymer

In this study the authors used an unusual linear symmetric poly(ethylene oxide-b-caprolactone) (PEO-b-PCL) diblock copolymer as a template within phenolic/double-decker silsesquioxane (DDSQ) hybrids to synthesize mesoporous phenolic/DDSQ materials having Frank-Kasper (FK) phases (e.g., sigma, A15, H, and Z phases). These FK structures are the first to have been prepared using a block copolymer and the first to exist in mesoporous materials. The authors' mesoporous carbon/DDSQ hybrids displayed high capacitance (764 F g(-1) at a current of 0.5 A g(-1) and 98.4% capacitance retention over 2000 cycles), arising from their high surface areas, high pore volumes, and tunable concentrations of N, O, and Si heteroatoms.

Automated summary

The authors synthesized mesoporous materials with different FK phases using a polymer template, displaying high capacitance retention. This high capacitance is attributed to the materials' high surface areas, high pore volumes, and tunable concentrations of heteroatoms.