| abstract |
The invention disclosed relates to porous carbon of spherical morphology having tuned porosity and to a method of making same, comprising: (a) providing a precursor solution, by combining in an aqueous solution a colloidal silica template material and a water-soluble pyrolyzable carbon source, wherein the particle size of the colloidal silica template and the colloidal silica/carbon source weight ratio are controlled, (b) atomizing the precursor solution into small droplets by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, (c) directing the droplets into a high temperature furnace operating at a temperature of 700-1200 0C, under an inert gas atmosphere, where the droplets are transformed into solid spherical composite carbon/silica particles, (d) collecting the resulting composite carbon/silica particles exiting from the furnace, and (e) removing the silica from the particles, to provide substantially pure porous carbon of spherical morphology having tuned porosity defined by surface area and pore size. The porous carbon according to the invention is used as catalyst supports in PEM fuel cells, as electrodes in supercapacitors and lithium in batteries, for hydrogen storage and as earners for drug delivering. |