When High‐Temperature Cesium Chemistry Meets Self‐Templating: Metal Acetates as Building Blocks of Unusual Highly Porous Carbons

Abstract

Self-templating is a facile strategy for synthesizing porous carbons by direct pyrolysis of organic metal salts. However, the method typically suffers from low yields (< 4%) and limited specific surface areas (SSA < 2000 m 2 g À 1 ) originating from low activity of metal cations (e.g., K + or Na + ) in promoting construction and activation of carbon frameworks. Here we use cesium acetate as the only precursor of oxo-carbons with large SSA of the order of 3000 m 2 g À 1 , pore volume approaching 2 cm 3 g À 1 , tunable oxygen contents, and yields of up to 15 %. We unravel the role of Cs + as an efficient promoter of framework formation, templating and etching agent, while acetates act as carbon/oxygen sources of carbonaceous frameworks. The oxo-carbons show record-high CO 2 uptake of 8.71 mmol g À 1 and an ultimate specific capacitance of 313 F g À 1 in the supercapacitor. This study helps to understand and rationally tailor the materials design by a still rare organic solidstate chemistry.