A Concept for the Fabrication of Penetrating Carbon/Silica Hybrid Materials

Nanostructured carbon/silica hybrid materials and poly(furfuryl alcohol)/silica xerogel are prepared and characterized here. In the key synthetic step, cation-induced polycondensation of furfuryl alcohol occurs simultaneously with a sol–gel process involving tetraethoxysilane and water to yield the xerogel, which is subsequently thermally transformed to the carbon/silica material (see Figure).