One-step synthesis of porous carbon nanosheets with controllable pore size and their dye adsorption performances

   Porous carbons have received a great deal of attention because of their applicability for water purification, gas separation, catalyst supports, and electrode materials for supercapacitors and batteries. The performances... [ view full abstract ]

   Porous carbons have received a great deal of attention because of their applicability for water purification, gas separation, catalyst supports, and electrode materials for supercapacitors and batteries. The performances of the porous carbons are determined by various characteristics like structure, pore size distribution, pore shape, electrical conductivity, and surface functionality. Among them, it is well-known that the pore size distribution of porous carbon determines performances including adsorption capacity. Furthermore, 3D interconnected nanosheet morphologies of the porous carbons are strongly recommended for various applications due to their short diffusion pathways, large specific surface area, and absence of self-restacking. 

   In this study, 3D interconnected porous carbon nanosheets with different pore size distributions are synthesized by direct carbonization of organic salts and their dye adsorption performances are analyzed. By controlling the type and ratio of organic salts used as precursors, we have synthesized porous carbon nanosheets with a controllable pore size distribution, ranging from microporous to mesoporous. The dye adsorption ability of porous carbon nanosheets are tested for rhodamine B, methylene blue, and reactive black 5 dyes. The dye adsorption capacities increase in the order of sample A (predominantly microporous carbon nanosheets) = sample B (hierarchical micro/mesoporous carbon nanosheets) < sample C (mostly mesoporous carbon nanosheets) for all three dyes. As-synthesized porous carbon nanosheets with different pore size distribution are expected to be widely applied as adsorbents for water purification, electrode materials for energy storage and conversion, and catalyst supports.

Acknowledgement

This work was conducted under the framework of the Research and Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) (B7-2461-07) and the BK21 Plus-KAIST.