Free-Standing Mesoporous Carbon Thin Films with Highly Ordered Pore Architectures for Nanodevices

Abstract

We report for the first time the synthesis of free-standing mesoporous carbon films with highly ordered pore architecture by a simple coating-etching approach, which have an intact morphology with variable sizes as large as several square centimeters and a controllable thickness of 90 nm to ∼3 μm. The mesoporous carbon films were first synthesized by coating a resol precursors/Pluronic copolymer solution on a preoxidized silicon wafer and forming highly ordered polymeric mesostructures based on organic-organic self-assembly, followed by carbonizing at 600 °C and finally etching of the native oxide layer between the carbon film and the silicon substrate. The mesostructure of this free-standing carbon film is confirmed to be an ordered face-centered orthorhombic Fmmm structure, distorted from the (110) oriented body-centered cubic Im3̅m symmetry. The mesoporosity of the carbon films has been evaluated by nitrogen sorption, which shows a high specific BET surface area of 700 m(2)/g and large uniform mesopores of ∼4.3 nm. Both mesostructures and pore sizes can be tuned by changing the block copolymer templates or the ratio of resol to template. These free-standing mesoporous carbon films with cracking-free uniform morphology can be transferred or bent on different surfaces, especially with the aid of the soft polymer layer transfer technique, thus allowing for a variety of potential applications in electrochemistry and biomolecule separation. As a proof of concept, an electrochemical supercapacitor device directly made by the mesoporous carbon thin films shows a capacitance of 136 F/g at 0.5 A/g. Moreover, a nanofilter based on the carbon films has shown an excellent size-selective filtration of cytochrome c and bovine serum albumin.

Highly Conductive Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Based Electrodes Decorated by 3D Graphene and 1D Silver Nanowire for Flexible Supercapacitor

“…For comparison, free standing OMC thin fi lm based supercapacitor, without attaching 3D-graphene foam, was assembled according to the previous literature. [ 41 ] Copper wires were embedded and connected to carbon materials with silver paste, which enables a strong electrical contact and a small contact resistance between the copper wires and the active materials. The electrolyte used in all of the measurements was a 6 M KOH or 1 M H 2 SO 4 aqueous solution, which was sealed by adhesive tape.…”

Ordered mesoporous carbon for electrochemical sensing: A review

“…Various shapes and morphologies of mesoporous carbons, such as single crystals [20], monoliths [21], fibers [21], nanospheres [22], vesicles [23]. and films [24] have been synthesized.…”

“…It has been shown that the electron transfer resistance of OMC is much lower than that on CNT [24] suggesting that OMC can form good electron pathway between the electrode and electrolyte. Recent works showed that the apparent electrode area is about 0.063 cm 2 [31] higher than that of CNT.…”

Exceptionally robust and conductive superhydrophobic free-standing films of mesoporous carbon nanocapsule/polymer composite for multifunctional applications

“…Alternatively, to introduce the desired roughness for superhydrophobicity on surfaces and conductivity in polymers, carbon based nanoparticle techniques may be another approach. Mesoporous carbon nanoparticles, which are a class of semi-crystalline or glassy carbon based materials, have attracted great interest due to their outstanding properties, such as their high specific surface area, ordered mesostructure, tunable pore size, low density, good conductivity and chemical stability, which are all of great significance in a wide range of applications [18][19][20][21]. However, carbon based superhydrophobic films have not yet been developed for multifunctional/smart applications that could require the encapsulation/release of functional nanomaterials.…”