Sol–gel chemistry in molten Brønsted acids towards “activated” carbons and beyond

"Chemical activation" using Brønsted acids as chemical agents is widely used to generate activated carbons for various sorption applications. Commercially relevant is especially a process using phosphoric acid as activating agent applied to abundant and inexpensive biomass such as wood or coconut shells. In this manuscript, we revisit the porogenesis mechanism based on experiments involving molecular model compounds and oxygen-free polymer precursors, as well as different molten acids as activating agents. Describing acid activation with principles of sol-gel chemistry results in a more general understanding and uncovers a versatile synthetic tool for materials nanochemistry.