Accelerated Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbons Using Plasma.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Conventional ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) synthesis involves lengthy carbonization steps.
• Existing methods to accelerate OMC production often require additional components like microwave absorbers or conductive agents.
• There is a need for advanced manufacturing capabilities with higher throughput for expedited materials discovery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate accelerated synthesis and functionalization of OMCs using dielectric barrier discharge plasma.
• To investigate the impact of plasma parameters on OMC properties.
• To explore the incorporation of heteroatoms and synthesis of larger pore-sized OMCs via plasma treatment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized dielectric barrier discharge plasma for rapid carbonization of OMC precursors.
• Systematically varied plasma power, time, and gas atmosphere (including ammonia).
• Employed non-Pluronic templating systems for synthesizing OMCs with larger pore sizes.

Main Results:

• Achieved OMC carbonization within 15 minutes using 30 W plasma sources, a >10x increase in kinetics compared to traditional pyrolysis.
• Demonstrated rapid carbonization without additional substrates within OMC precursors.
• Successfully incorporated nitrogen heteroatoms (up to 4.7 at.%) and synthesized OMCs with pore sizes >10 nm.

Conclusions:

• Dielectric barrier discharge plasma enables significantly faster OMC production rates.
• Plasma treatment offers a versatile approach for OMC functionalization and tailoring pore structures.
• The plasma-enabled method is industrially relevant and scalable for high-throughput OMC synthesis.