Ionic Liquid Monomers and Polymers as Precursors of Highly Conductive, Mesoporous, Graphitic Carbon Nanostructures

Abstract

In this contribution a template-free preparation of mesoporous graphitic carbon nanostructures with high electric conductivity is presented, using ionic liquid monomers or poly(ionic liquid) polymers as carbon precursors. The carbonization was performed in the presence of FeCl2 at temperatures between 900 and 1000 °C. It was found that FeCl2 plays a key role in controlling both the chemical structure and the texture morphology of the graphitization process. A detailed investigation on the carbonization process demonstrated that 900 °C is a threshold temperature where a synergistic formation process enables the development of the superior physical properties, such as large surface area and low resistance. The as-synthesized carbon products are graphitic, mesoporous, and highly conductive, as proven by XRD and TEM characterizations and conductivity measurements. Via an acid etching process, iron and iron carbide nanoparticles, the remainder of the primary catalyst, can be removed, leaving pure mesoporous carbon nanomaterials with a comparably well developed graphitic structure. Without demand for any template, this method is facile and easy to scale up and might contribute to the wide range of applications of carbon nanostructures.

An instant multi-responsive porous polymer actuator driven by solvent molecule sorption

“…All organic solvents were of analytic grade. The PILTf 2 N was synthesized according to our previous study 43 . The C-pillar [5]arene was synthesized according to a literature method 44 .…”

Solvent-free aerobic oxidation of hydrocarbons and alcohols with Pd@N-doped carbon from glucose

“…In general, 9.0 g D-glucose, 1.2 g additive (poly(ionic liquid)s) 53 and 0.75 g Borax were dissolved in 30 ml water at room temperature. The mixtures were loaded into a PTFE-lined autoclave and treated at 200°C for 8 h. The resulting black solids were filtered and washed several times with ethanol and deionized water.…”

Hydrophobic Poly(ionic liquid) for Highly Effective Separation of Methyl Blue and Chromium Ions from Water

“…Recently, the researchers have focused on poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) from the polymerization of IL monomers [16]. Compared to their monomers, the PILs possess good processability and membrane forming ability with potential in polymeric electrolytes, carbon dioxide absorbing materials, catalytic membranes, ionic conductive materials and microwave absorbing materials [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Different from normal water soluble polyelectrolytes, PILs can be tunable as hydrophobic but soluble in strong polar organic solvent such as DMF and DMSO by introducing the hydrophobic counter-ions (e.g., PF 6 − , Tf 2 N − ) [25].…”