A scalable molecular-templating strategy toward well-defined microporous carbon aerogels for efficient water treatment and electrocatalysis

Carbon aerogels have attracted increasing research interest in a wide range of potential applications owing to their unique structural features, yet the scalable preparation of carbon aerogels configured by nanoporous carbon skeletons with high surface area and precise pore structure is a great challenge. Herein, we report a molecular-scale interface engineering concept for high-throughput and scalable production of well-defined microporous carbon aerogels (MPCAs) based on simple and fast polycondensation (<8 s) of dialdehyde with silsesquioxane. Benefiting from the unique organic/inorganic hybrid molecule structure, the silsesquioxane favours the formation of molecular-scale silica templates with uniform carbon source/template interface. The resulting MPCAs exhibit 3D interconnected macroporous framework combined with well-defined micropore skeleton and large surface area. These intriguing features render MPCAs superb pore accessibility and utilization, and thus they demonstrate great promise as adsorbent materials for rapid removal (<10 s) of organic micropollutants with high uptake, and as electrocatalyst supports for incorporation of metal-nitrogen-carbon species with excellent activities.