Direct fabrication of Pt-supported macroporous carbon with nanoporous walls

Pt-supported macroporous carbon nanopores was directly fabricated using aggregates of uniform sized silica particles and nanoporous Pt-alumina. Uniform sized silica particle synthesized was modified using aluminum-sec-tributoxide to induce chemical interaction between silica particles and nanoporous alumina. The modification was conducted by reacting 19.3 g of Al(sec-OBu)₃ solution in anhydrous toluene in the presence of 3 g of triethylamine with 8 g of silica particles under vigorous stirring at 85°C for 6h. It was shown that the surface modification of silica particles and the centrifugation followed by calcination in a stream of nitrogen were effective for the preparation of close-packed aggregates of silica particles.