Facile synthesis of nitrogen and sulfur-doped ordered mesoporous carbon through solvent-free infiltration method

Highly ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) materials containing heteroelements such as nitrogen and sulfur were successfully synthesized by a facile solvent-free infiltration method from mesoporous silica templates with 2-d hexagonal (P6mm) and 3-d cubic (Ia3d) mesostructures. Carbon precursors including phenanthrene, 1,10-phenanthroline, and p-toluenesulfonic acid were spontaneously infiltrated within the mesopores of the silica templates by heating a mixture of carbon precursor and silica template at 160 °C. Carbonization of the composites at 900 °C and subsequent silica template removal resulted in highly ordered mesoporous carbon materials. The obtained OMC materials exhibited high surface areas of 648-1139 m²/g and pore volumes of 0.54-1.28 cm³/g, which were very similar to those of mesoporous carbon materials synthesized by a conventional solvent-assisted impregnation method.