High surface area sulfur-doped microporous carbons from inverse vulcanised polymers

Abstract

Sulfur is not only a highly abundant element, but is also produced as a by-product of the petrochemical industry. However, it has not been conventionally used to produce functional materials because polymeric sulfur is unstable, and decomposes back to its monomer. Recently, inverse vulcanisation has been used to produce stable polymeric materials with elemental sulfur as a major component. Here we show that an inverse vulcanised polymer produced from sulfur and another low-cost industrial by-product, dicyclopentadiene, can be made highly microporous by carbonisation. The resultant materials have a remarkably high surface area of over 2200 m² g⁻¹, and retain a high level of sulfur content. The S-doped carbons out perform many higher cost commercial and academic materials in gas adsorption applications, such as H₂, CO₂, as well as mercury and gold capture from water.