On the correlation between Raman spectra and structural properties of activated carbons derived by hyper-crosslinked polymers

Porous carbons are materials of wide application and their request is more and more increasing in the last years: Properly designed synthesis is presently available for the preparation of materials to be used in several fields (e.g.: adsorption, molecular separation, and catalysis). The characterization of the porous carbons is usually carried out using different techniques such as thermogravimetric analyses, Raman spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, etc. In this work, the micro-Raman technique is adopted in combination with N₂ physisorption at 77 K to monitor how the synthetic approach influences the presence of either amorphous or ordered regions in porous carbons. The typical D and G Raman bands of activated carbons have been carefully deconvoluted in six different components by a fitting procedure, and the determined R₁ = I_D1/I_G ratio correlated to their specific surface area.