Microwave drying as an effective method to obtain porous carbon xerogels

Microwave drying was used to prepare resorcinol-formaldehyde aqueous gels, without performing any pretreatment, and to see whether it was possible to use this drying option to obtain porous carbon xerogels with controlled textural properties. By using microwave drying, the process for obtaining carbon gels is greatly simplified, textural properties are controlled likewise with other drying methods, but the time involved in the process is significantly reduced and no pretreatment is necessary. Therefore, microwave drying could help to simplify the carbon xerogels synthesis and reduce the associated costs. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.