Easy and eco-friendly synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbons by self-assembly of tannin with a block copolymer

Ordered mesoporous carbons were prepared by the self-assembly of Mimosa tannin, a natural poly phenolic molecule, and a micellar solution of Pluronic (R) F127, used as soft template. The synthesis was carried out at 20 degrees C using water as the only solvent and without crosslinker agent (i.e., formaldehyde). When tannin, at any pH lower than 4.2, and Pluronic solutions were mixed, a phase separation mechanism immediately occurred due to the strong interaction between both polymers. The precipitated resin was recovered, dried and pyrolysed at 400, 700 and 900 degrees C. Ordered mesoporous carbon materials were obtained, having both high pore volume and surface areas, up to 0.64 cm(3) g(-1) or 720 m(2) g(-1), respectively.