Structure Evolution of Ordered Mesoporous Carbons Induced by Water Content of Mixed Solvents Water/Ethanol

Abstract

In this work, mesostructure evolution of ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) from the 2-D hexagonal (space group p6mm) to the discontinuous cubic F d 3 ¯ m , then towards the face-centered cubic lattice F m 3 ¯ m , and finally, to the simple cubic Pm3n is achieved by simply adjusting the cosolvent water content of the mixed solvents water/ethanol in the presence of a reverse nonionic triblock copolymer and low molecular resin by evaporation-induced self-assembly method. Experimental results demonstrate that both the cosolvent and the reverse triblock copolymer play a key role in the mesophase transitions of OMCs. Furthermore, the OMCs with Pm3n symmetry are reported for the first time. Finally, the mechanism of mesostructure transition was discussed and proposed.