Facile preparation of well dispersed uniform, porous carbon microspheres and their use as a new chromatographic adsorbent

Well dispersed uniform porous carbon microspheres were obtained through facile polymerization-induced colloid aggregation and carbonization process. The effect of the preparatory conditions on the properties of the prepared samples has been analyzed. The average size of the microspheres could be tuned while maintaining the uniformity of the spheres. Detailed characterization of the samples reveals that the carbon microspheres prepared in this study have large surface area signified by the presence of both mesopores and micropores. The properties make these spheres ideal for use as a chromatographic adsorbent. The chromatographic column packed by the prepared porous carbon microspheres with average diameter of 5.2 mu m has shown a great separation performance for hydrophilic compound mixtures. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.