Nanoporous carbon materials with controlled morphological and textural properties are of great interest in different applications like catalysis, adsorption and membrane separation. In this study, furfuryl alcohol was used to synthesize poly(furfuryl alcohol) using an emulsion polymerization approach, in the presence of Pluronic F-127 as the structure directing agent. The surfactant assisted polymerization of furfuryl alcohol led to formation of polymeric spheres (and in some cases other morphologies) which were then pyrolized at 800�C to form carbon. The intrinsic pore size of the as-synthesized carbon spheres is 0.5 nm and it can be controlled by adding pore forming agents (poly(ethylene glycol) with different molecular weights) during polymerization. The other approach used to shift the pore size was oxidation of carbon under CO2 at different temperatures. Size of the carbon spheres was also controlled by adjusting the surfactant to monomer ratio. It was possible to make mono dispersed spheres with sizes ranging from 50 nm to few microns using this approach. The effect of other factors including solvent composition and polymerization initiator concentration was also studied and the pseudo-ternary phase diagram of the system was developed. Platinum nanoparticles embedded in these carbon spheres was successfully used as catalyst support in shape selective liquid phase hydrogenation reactions .

Tuning morphology and porosity of poly(furfuryl alcohol)-derived nanoporous carbon

245th National Meeting (2013)

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