Reactive Template-Induced Self-Assembly to Ordered Mesoporous Polymeric and Carbonaceous Materials

As an important method for preparing ordered mesoporous polymeric and carbonaceous materials, the organic template directed self-assembly is facing challenges because of the weak noncovalent interactions between the organic templates and the building blocks. Herein we develop a novel reactive template-induced self-assembly procedure for fabrication of ordered mesoporous polymer and carbon materials. In our approach, the aldehyde end-group of reactive F127 template can react with the resol building block to in-situ form a stable covalent bond during the self-assembly process. This is essential for an enhanced interaction between the resol and the template, thus leading to the formation of an ordered body-centered cubic mesostructure. We also show that the ordered mesoporous carbon product exhibits superior capacitive performance, presenting an attractive potential candidate for high performance supercapacitor electrodes.