A template method to control the shape and porosity of carbon materials Original Research Article

Template silica materials with novel structures were synthesized by a sol–gel process and were used for the preparation of carbon replicas. Because the silica templates have thick skeleton walls and large textural pores, they can be molded to the required shape and size without cracking and shrinkage. By utilizing such templates, morphology and porosity control of the carbon materials were easily achieved. Carbon materials in various shapes including cylinders, triangles, squares, loops, and pentagons have been produced, and their skeleton pores can be tailored from 6.5 to 7.6 nm. In addition, the textural pore size of the carbon materials is tunable in the range of several micrometers.