Sustainable mesoporous carbons as storage and controlled-delivery media for functional molecules

Here, we report the synthesis of surfactant-templated mesoporous carbons from lignin, which is a biomass-derived polymeric precursor, and their potential use as a controlled-release medium for functional molecules such as pharmaceuticals. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of lignin for chemical-activation-free synthesis of functional mesoporous carbon. The synthesized carbons possess the pore widths within the range of 2.5-12.0 nm. In this series of mesoporous carbons, our best result demonstrates a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 418 m²/g and a mesopore volume of 0.34 cm³/g, which is twice the micropore volume in this carbon. Because of the dominant mesoporosity, this engineered carbon demonstrates adsorption and controlled release of a representative pharmaceutical drug, captopril, in simulated gastric fluid. Large-scale utilization of these sustainable mesoporous carbons in applications involving adsorption, transport, and controlled release of functional molecules is desired for industrial processes that yield lignin as a coproduct.