Structured carbon adsorbents from clay, zeolite and mesoporous aluminosilicate templates

Porous carbons templated from inorg. materials such as zeolites and mesoporous mol. sieves received considerable attention in the last decade. In this context, we discuss the effects of different templating structures on the carbons yielded. We describe templating using a com. cationic clay (Wyoming bentonite), a com. zeolite (Tosoh H-Beta) and a synthetic mesoporous aluminosilicate (Al-MCM-48), as exemplars of the categories of inorg. templates we have studied. The main carbon precursor used was furfuryl alc., complemented in some materials by an addnl. treatment using propylene carbon vapor deposition. The structures of the templates and carbons were compared using electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. Carbons were further characterized with elemental anal. and nitrogen adsorption. The templating process is more complex than previously reported; the combination of these different techniques enhances the understanding of its mechanisms. A careful study of the synthesized carbon pore size distributions using DFT with various pore geometries was carried out and comparison with two com. carbon adsorbents made, in order to assess the potential of such templated carbons for gas sepn. and gas storage. [on SciFinder (R)]