Synthesis of porous carbons from microporous organic polymers

Porous carbons have been a hot research area in chemistry, physics and materials owing to their high specific surface areas, plentiful pores, excellent stability and good conductivity, which have been exploited in various applications such as catalysis, drug delivery and electrochemistry. Microporous organic polymers (MOPs) are currently an important class of porous polymers that have developed rapidly in recent years. MOPs have the advantages of good chemical and physical stability, tunable pore structure, high surface area and easy functionalization compared with traditional porous materials such as zeolite and silica gel. Because of the excellent thermal stability of MOPs,porous carbons with a tunable pore structure can be obtained by their carbonization. In this review, we outline how MOPs were used to make porous carbons and highlight their synthesis and applications.