Aqueous-phase synthesis of nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon nanospheres as an efficient adsorbent for acidic gases

Nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon spheres (N-OMCs) were conveniently produced by using a soluble urea–phenol–formaldehyde resin as the precursor and triblock copolymer F127 as a soft template. The obtained carbon spheres with a mean diameter of around 240 nm possessed a variable surface nitrogen content of 0.38–1.4 wt.%, an ordered Im3m mesostructure, and a uniform pore size of around 2.8 nm. The nitrogen atoms were mostly bound to the graphitic network in two forms, that is, pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen, providing adsorption sites for acidic gases. The N-OMC materials exhibited a good performance for the capture of typical acidic gases such as CO2 (2.43 mmol g−1) and SO2 (119.1 mg g−1).