A unique route to fabricate mesoporous carbon with abundant ferric species as a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst under neutral conditions

The incorporation of large amounts of metal oxide species into mesoporous carbon without pore blockage is still a challenge. Herein, a unique approach combining physical vapor infiltration (PVI) with hard-templating replication, has been developed to prepare mesoporous carbon immobilized with abundant and highly dispersed ferric species using ferrocene as a single source for both carbon and iron. As a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst, the as-synthesized mesoporous carbon Fe/mC-450-H, which was obtained at 450 °C in an H₂ atmosphere, can efficiently adsorb and degrade methylene blue (MB) at neutral pH values with H₂O₂.