Effect of curing catalyst content on the pore structure of porous carbon obtained from phenolic resin and furfuryl alcohol

Homogeneous porous carbons with narrow pore size distributions have been obtained from phenolic resin/furfuryl alcohol/ethylene glycol resin mixtures based on polymer blend carbonization. The effect of curing catalyst content (w_b) on the polymerization process of the resin mixtures and the pore structure of the porous carbons has been systematically investigated. The results show that higher w_b results in bigger pore size, thicker carbon skeleton and higher apparent porosity. The morphological and pore structural change of the porous carbons is induced by phase separation dynamics and reaction kinetics change on curing of initial resin compositions, by varying w_b in the resin-glycol mixtures. More curing catalyst results in chemical reactions between phenolic resin and furfuryl alcohol occurring at a higher speed and the polymerization degree of the cured bodies increases.