Journal | RSC Advances |
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Date | E-pub ahead of print - 5 Nov 2013 |
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Date | Published (current) - Jan 2014 |
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Issue number | 1 |
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Volume | 4 |
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Number of pages | 7 |
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Pages (from-to) | 222-228 |
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Early online date | 5/11/13 |
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Original language | English |
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This study reports the development of calcium alginate-based highly mesoporous carbon spheres (AMCS). These materials exhibit significant potential in chromatographic applications and demonstrated similar efficiency to commercially available porous graphitic carbon (PGC) and are superior to Starbon® materials in separation of polar carbohydrate analytes. The AMCS exhibit a narrow particle size distribution, are highly spherical and exhibit extensive mesoporous networks (up to ca. 90% mesoporosity). It is shown how calcium content can significantly influence the textural properties of the resulting AMCS materials. The AMCS production process requires no additional templating agents and temperatures of only 800 °C. In contrast, PGC are manufactured through an energy-intensive manufacture process, which requires a hard-templated mesoporous carbon intermediate to be pyrolysed to over 2000 °C under argon. Thus AMCS demonstrate promise as a green alternative to PGC in chromatographic applications.
©2014 The Royal Society of Chemistry.