Tailoring the textural properties of activated carbon xerogels by chemical activation with KOH

Abstract

Resorcinol–formaldehyde xerogels synthesised with different resorcinol/sodium carbonate molar ratios were chemically activated either after drying or after drying and pyrolysis, using potassium hydroxide. It was found that organic (i.e. dried) and carbon (i.e. pyrolysed) xerogels behave differently when subjected to chemical activation. In the case of carbon xerogels, the increase in the microporosity takes place without any significant modification to the meso/macroporosity formed during the synthesis step, leading to micro–mesoporous or micro–macroporous materials with a larger micropore volume. Furthermore, control of the microporosity is possible because its development depends on the amount of KOH used. However, when organic xerogels are activated, mainly microporous materials with BET specific surface areas of up to 2000 m2 g−1 are obtained, there hardly remaining any of the meso/macroporosity formed during the gel synthesis. Thus, the combination of different synthesis conditions and chemical activation with potassium hydroxide allows the textural properties of carbon xerogels to be tailored at both micropore and meso/macropore levels.