Preparation and characterization of porous carbon spheres with controlled micropores and mesopores

Porous carbon spheres were prepared by interfacial sol-gel polymerization. The microstructure of the carbon spheres is investigated by SAXS, TEM, and FE-SEM. The framework of resulting carbon sphere is hollow structure with a cavity of about 200 nm diameter. The structure of hollow carbon sphere wall is mesopores with average pore diameter of 5-26 nm, porosity of 0.52-0.91, and specific surface of 210-670 m(2)/cm(3) and 747-1606 m(2)/g. The pore characteristic of the hollow carbon spheres varies with different carbon source concentration. The carbon spheres whose precursor solution concentration is 52 wt%, have the highest specific surface area of 1606 m(2)/g. Cryogenic hydrogen sorption capacity was determined at 77 K, and hydrogen uptake of 2.37 wt% was achieved for the porous carbon spheres. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.