New mesoporous carbons prepared by a simultaneous synthetic template carbonization method for electric double layer capacitors

A simultaneous synthetic template carbonization method (SSTCM), where tetraethoxy silane (TEOS) was used as the source of the silica template and resorcinol-formaldehyde gel as the carbon precursor, was suggested for the preparation of mesoporous carbons with a controllable pore structure. A precursor solution of the silica template prepared by prehydrolysis of TEOS in an acid medium was blended with resorcinol-formaldehyde solution. The two sol-gel reactions proceeded simultaneously under basic conditions in a sealed vessel and resulted in the formation of organic/inorganic hybrids. A new mesoporous SSTCM carbon was obtained by dissolving the silica template with HF in the hybrid after carbonization, followed by drying. N_2 adsorption isotherms at -196℃ suggested that the silica template synthesized simultaneously with the carbon precursor polymer resulted in the controllable mesoporous structure of the resultant carbons. Cyclic voltammetry measurements show that the as-prepared SSTCM carbons exhibit a high mass-specific capacitance up to 270F/g. Their typical mesoporous structure makes these carbons promising materials for electric double layer capacitors.