Porous characteristics of carbon-coated silica gel beads prepared by liquid phase deposition of organic colloidal nanoparticles

Abstract Carbon-coated silica gel beads could be prepared by immersing porous silica gel beads in a resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) aqueous solution and then following by drying and pyrolysis in nitrogen atmosphere. With the proposed method, deposition of colloidal nanoparticles formed during the sol–gel polycondensation of the RF solution was successfully prepared on the mesopores of the silica gel beads. Both size and concentration of the colloidal particles could be controlled by the gelation time and the mixing ratio (VEtOH/VRF) of the RF solution to ethanol. The porous characteristics of the prepared carbon-coated silica gel beads and the amounts of deposited carbon could be controlled by changing VEtOH/VRF. Without any significant decrease in mesoporosity, the maximal carbon contents of carbon-coated silica gel beads could be increased up to 18 wt% in the inner part and 53 wt% on the outer surface, respectively.