Templated synthesis of nitrogen-enriched nanoporous carbon materials from porogenic organic precursors prepared by ATRP.

A facile templated synthesis of functional nanocarbon materials with well-defined spherical mesopores is developed using all-organic porogenic precursors comprised of hairy nanoparticles with nitrogen-rich polyacrylonitrile shells grafted from sacrificial cross-linked poly(methyl methacrylate) cores (xPMMA-g-PAN). Such shape-persistent all-organic nanostructured precursors, prepared using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), assure robust formation of template nanostructures with continuous PAN precursor matrix over wide range of compositions, and allow for removal of the sacrificial template through simple thermal decomposition. Carbon materials prepared using this method combine nitrogen enrichment with hierarchical nanostructure comprised of microporous carbon matrix interspersed with mesopores originating from sacrificial xPMMA cores, and thus perform well as CO2 adsorbents and as supercapacitor electrodes.