PREPARATION OF NANOPOROUS ZIRCONIA- EMBEDDED CARBON COMPOSITES: NOVEL APPROACH FOR DIRECT MODIFICATION OF SUPPORT SUBSTRATES

摘要

Porous and high-surface-area carbons are of great interest because of their high surface areas, large pore volume, chemical inertness, and excellent mechanical stability. Many nanoporous carbons are produced through templating approaches because the templating methods are the most promising and the simplest way to prepare two- or three-dimensional porous carbon materials with well-defined structural, textural, and morphological properties. These nanostructured carbons are used extensively as electrode materials for batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. Carbon materials are considered chemically inert under various reaction conditions. However, the surface of a porous carbon material often needs to be modified to create surface functional groups which facilitate the fine-tune interactions with guest molecules. Many researchers have tried to develop chemistries for functionalizing the porous carbon surfaces in order to have the full benefits of porous carbons which can be used as electrode materials.