Porous graphitic materials obtained from carbonization of organic xerogels doped with transition metal salts

Porous carbons with a well developed graphitic phase were obtained via the pyrolysis of FeCl3-, NiCl2-, and CoCl2-doped organic xerogels. Doping was realized through salt solubilization in a water/methanol solution of resorcinol and furfural. Carbon xerogels with tailored particles, porous morphology and various degrees of graphitization were obtained depending of the water/methanol ratio and the salt content and type in the starting solution of substrates. When obtained via pyrolysis, carbon xerogels retain the overall open-celled structure exhibiting depleted microporosity and a well-developed mesoporic region that expands into macropores. The removal of metal leads to carbon xerogels with specific surface areas between 170 and 585 m2/g and pore volume up to 0·76 cm3/g. The possibility of enhancing the porosity of xerogels via templating with colloidal silica was also investigated. It was assumed that from the three investigated salts, FeCl3 makes the best choice for graphitization catalyst precursor to obtain uniformly graphitized mesoporous carbon xerogels. The obtained carbon samples were characterized by means of SEM, TEM, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, N2 physisorption and thermogravimetric analysis.