Low-cost preparation of mesoporous silica with high pore volume

Mesoporous silica materials with high pore volume were successfully prepared by the chemical precipitation method, with water glass and a biodegradable nonionic surfactant polyethylene glycol （PEG）. The obtained materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, thermo gravimetric analyzer and differential scanning calorimetry （TG-DSC）, nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements, and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The results showed that the changes of the pore parameters depended on both the surfactant content and heat treatment temperature. When the content of PEG was 10wt% and the obtained PEG/SiO2 composite was heated at 600℃, the mesoporous silica with a pore volume of 2.2 cma/g, a BET specific surface area of 361.55 m^2/g, and a diameter of 2-4 μm could be obtained. The obtained mesoporous silica materials have potential applications in the fields of paint and plastic, as thickening, reinforcing, and flatting agents.

Synthesis of silica powder with high pore volume by skeleton reinforcement

In this paper,a method composed of gelation of basic skeleton(first step)and skeleton reinforcement process(second step)was introduced to synthesize silica powder with high pore volume through the reaction between water glass and sulfuric acid.No organic solvents were involved in the entire preparation process and the final product was collected by spray drying.The effect of concentration of base solution,gelation point p H value and skeleton reinforcement time on the BET specific surface area and pore volume of the prepared silica powder were investigated intensively.The results show that,a basic skeleton with good dispersibility and high porosity was obtained when the concentration of base solution was 0.1 mol·L^(-1) and the gelation p H value reached 6.5.Then the basic skeleton grew into a more uniform porous structure after 30 min skeleton reinforcement.Under these optimum conditions,silica powder prepared by skeleton reinforcement method had a BET specific surface area of 358.0 m^(2)·g^(-1),and its pore volume reached 2.18 cm^(3)·g^(-1),which was much higher than that of prepared by skeleton-free method(1.62 cm^(3)·g^(-1))and by direct gelation method(0.31 cm^(3)·g^(-1)).

High-performance organic electrolyte supercapacitors based on intrinsically powdery carbon aerogels

A novel class of powdery carbon aerogels（PCAs） has been developed by the union of microemulsion polymerization and hypercrosslinking, followed by carbonization. The resulting aerogels are in a microscale powdery form, demonstrate a well-defined 3D interconnected nanonetwork with hierarchical pores derived from numerous interstitial nanopores and intraparticle micropores, and exhibit high surface area（up to 1969 m^2/g）. Benefiting from these structural features, PCAs show impressive capacitive performances when utilized as electrodes for organic electrolyte supercapacitors,including large capacitances of up to 152 F/g, high energy densities of 37-15 Wh/kg at power densities of 34–6750 W/kg, and robust cycling stability.