The syntheses of a family of highly ordered mesoporous polymers and carbon frameworks from organic−organic assembly of triblock copolymers with soluble, low-molecular-weight phenolic resin precursors (resols) by an evaporation induced self-assembly strategy have been reported in detail. The family members include two-dimensional hexagonal (space group, p6m), three-dimensional bicontinuous (Ia3̄d), body-centered cubic (Im3̄m), and lamellar mesostructures, which are controlled by simply adjusting the ratio of phenol/template or poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(propylene oxide) in the templates. A five-step mechanism from organic−organic assembly has been demonstrated. Cubic FDU-14 with a gyroidal mesostructure of polymer resin or carbon has been synthesized for the first time by using the copolymer Pluronic P123 as a template in a relatively narrow range. Upon calcination at 350 °C, the templates should be removed to obtain mesoporous polymers, and further heating at above a critical temperature of 600 °C transforms the mesoporous polymers to the homologous carbon frameworks. The mesoporous polymer resin and carbon product materials exhibit ordered structures, high surface areas, (670−1490 m2/g), large pore volumes (0.65−0.85 cm3/g), and uniform, large pore sizes (7.0−3.9 nm), as well as very thick pore walls (6−8 nm). The carbon open frameworks with covalently bonded constructions and thick pore walls exhibit high thermal stability (>1400 °C). Our results show that the feed gas used during the calcination has a great influence on the porosity of the products. The presence of a small amount of oxygen facilitates the large pore sizes and high surface areas of mesoporous materials with different mesostructures. An extraction method employing sulfuric acid can also decompose the template from hexagonal mesostructured polymers with little framework shrinkage. Preliminary studies of the mechanical and electrochemical properties of mesoporous carbon molecular sieves are also presented.

Electrodes with three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) carbon as the intermediate layer between an ionophore-doped solvent polymeric membrane and a metal contact are presented as a novel approach to solid-contact ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISEs). Due to the well-interconnected pore and wall structure of 3DOM carbon, filling of the 3DOM pores with an electrolyte solution results in a nanostructured material that exhibits high ionic and electric conductivity. The long-term drift of freshly prepared SC-ISEs with 3DOM carbon contacts is only 11.7 microV/h, and does not increase when in contact with solution for 1 month, making this the most stable SC-ISE reported so far. The electrodes show good resistance to the interference from oxygen. Moreover, in contrast to previously reported SC-ISEs with conducting polymers as the intermediate layer, 3DOM carbon is an electron conductor rather than a semiconductor, eliminating any light interference.