Insights into the Synthesis and Surface Functionalization of Mesoporous Carbon for Catalytic Applications

Ordered mesoporous carbons with optimized surface functionalities were synthetized by a soft template method using the organic-organic self-assembling method between eco-friendly polymerizable molecules (pholoroglucinol and glyoxal) and a triblock-copolymer (Pluronic F-127). Varying the curing and pyrolysis treatments, lead to materials with high surface area and long-range order. Moreover, new functionalities and modification of carbon surface were obtained using simple post-treatment methods, without significantly changing the texture of materials. In particular, surface oxidation using HNO3 in mild conditions introduces a high number of oxygen functionalities over the ordered carbon, improving the overall activity of this material as noble-free catalyst in the aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The creation of carbons with mesoporous and optimized surface functionalization can be considered a promising way to develop metal-free catalysts and/or efficient catalyst supports for heterogeneous hydrogenation and oxidation reactions.