Porous carbons

A method for making a solid cured porous phenolic resin having mesopores/macropores of diameter >2 nm as estimated by nitrogen adsorption porosimetry, h differential of pore volume V with respect to the logarithm of pore radius R (dV/d log R) for pores of size 2-10 nm being less than values of dV/d log R for pores of size >10 nm, and values of dV/d log R being >0.2 for at least some values of pore size in the range 10-50 nm, said method comprising

• reacting without catalyst in a pore-forming solvent selected from the group consisting of diols, diol-ethers, cyclic esters, linear and cyclic substituted amides, aminoalcohols and optionally added water (a) a nucleophilic component which comprises a phenol condensation prepolymer optionally with one or more modifying reagents selected from the group consisting of hydroquinone, resorcinol, urea, aromatic amines and heteroaromatic amines and (b) an electrophilic crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde, furfural, hexamethylene tetramine, melamine and hydroxymethylated melamine,
• the amount of pore former exceeding the capacity of the cross-linked resin domains, forming a solution with partially cross-linked polymer between the domains, increasing the volume of material in the voids between the domains and thereby giving rise to mesoporosity.