The organization
of specific pores in carbonaceous three-dimensional
networks is crucial for efficient electrocatalytic processes and electrochemical
performance. Therefore, the synthesis of porous materials with ordered
and well-defined pores is required in this field. The incorporation
of carbon nanostructures into polymers can create material structures
that are more ordered in comparison to those of the pristine polymers.
In this study we applied polymer-templated methods of carbon material
preparation, in which outer blocks of the star copolymers form the
carbon skeleton, while the core part is pore-forming. Well-defined
6-
star
-(poly(methyl acrylate)-
b
-poly(4-acetoxystyrene))
dendrimers were synthesized by reversible addition–fragmentation
chain-transfer polymerization. They were then transformed into poly(4-vinylphenol)
derivatives (namely 6-
star
-(poly(methyl acrylate)-
b
-poly(4-vinylphenol)), subjected to polycondensation with
formaldehyde, and pyrolyzed at 800 °C. Cross-linking of phenolic
groups provides a polymer network that does not depolymerize by pyrolysis,
unlike poly(methyl acrylate) chains. The selected star polymers were
attached to carbon nano-onions (CNOs) to improve the organization
of the polymer chains. Herein, the physicochemical properties of CNO-polymer
hybrids, including the textural and the electrochemical properties,
were compared with those of the pristine pyrolyzed polymers obtained
under analogous experimental conditions. For these purposes, we used
several experimental and theoretical methods, such as infrared, Raman,
and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption
measurements, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical
studies, including cyclic voltammetry. All of the porous materials
were evaluated for use as supercapacitors.