Preparation of mesoporous carbon derived from mixtures of phenol-formaldehyde resin and ethylene glycol

The mesoporous carbons were prepared from the mixtures of phenol-formaldehyde resin (PF) as a carbon precursor and ethylene glycol (EG) as a pore-forming agent. The influence of various mass ratio of PF and EG on the pore structure of the porous carbons obtained was investigated, with emphasis on controlling their pore size distribution and average pore size. When mass ratio of PF/EG was not more than 1, the monolithic mesoporous carbons with apparent porosity about 45% were achieved. Decreasing the PF/EG ratio resulted in narrow pore size distribution and short average pore size. The pores of porous carbons formed mainly as results of phase separation of resin-rich phase and glycol-rich phase with glycol-rich subsequently removed in postcuring and pyrolysis.