## 2 Experimental
### Research and Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Sample**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Average**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Surface Area**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Micropore**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Total Pore vol.**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Porosity**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Char Yield**} \\  & **Macropore** & & & & & \\  & **Diameter** (\(\upmu\)m) \({}^{\text{a}}\) & **(\(\upmu^{2}\)/g) \({}^{\text{b}}\) & **vol.** (\(\upmu\)m\({}^{3}\)/g) \({}^{\text{b}}\) & **(\(\upmu\)m) \({}^{\text{c}}\) & **(\(\upmu\)m) \({}^{\text{d}}\)** \\ \hline poly(DVB)HIPE & 82 \(\pm\) 42 & 8 & 0 & 0.021 & 86 & N/A \\ carboHIPE & 62 \(\pm\) 28 & 521 & 0.268 & 0.223 & 95 & 22 \\ carboHIPE-Act10 & 72 \(\pm\) 26 & 1123 & 0.432 & 0.572 & 97 & 13 \\ carboHIPE-Act30 & 74 \(\pm\) 30 & 1456 & 0.554 & 0.791 & 97 & 12 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* \({}^{\text{a}}\) Measured using image analysis software; \({}^{\text{b}}\) Calculated from N\({}_{2}\) sorption isotherms at 77 K; \({}^{\text{c}}\) Calculated using both the skeletal and envelope density of monoliths and \({}^{\text{d}}\) Mass yield after carbonization, relative to original poly(DVB)HIPE.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Macropore diameter, BET surface area, micropore volume, total pore volume, porosity, and char yield of a poly(DVB)HIPE, a carboHIPE, and activated carboHIPEs. Figure 2: SEM images of various carboHIPE-Act30s with different average macropore diameters, produced by stirring the HIPEs at different speeds prior to polymerization. **(a)** Gently agitated by hand; **(b)** 1000 rpm for 10 s on a vortex mixer; and **(c)** 3000 rpm for 10 s on a vortex mixer. poly(DVB)HIPE had a low surface area of 8 m\({}^{2}\)/g due to the presence of some mesoporosity within the structure [24; 34]. All surface areas showed huge increases upon carbonization or activation, with nitrogen adsorption displaying a type I isotherm in all cases (Figure 3a), with a steep N\({}_{2}\) uptake at low pressures, indicative of a predominantly microporous structure, as outlined by IUPAC classification [35]. The surface areas of carboHIPEs increased significantly with the addition of KOH prior to carbonization (Table 1), producing excellent surface areas of up to 1456 m\({}^{2}\)/g for carboHIPE-Act30. Both the total pore volume and the micropore volume also improved dramatically upon carbonization or activation, increasing from no notable microporosity in the poly(DVB)HIPE to an excellent micropore volume of 0.544 cm\({}^{3}\)/g and a total pore volume of 0.791 cm\({}^{3}\)/g in carboHIPE-Act30. Pore size distributions show this increase in micropore volume with a large peak at \(\sim\)5 A after both carbonization and activation, with activated samples appearing significantly more microporous (Figure 3b). By increasing the concentration of the initial KOH solution used to deposit the activating agent, both the surface area and the micropore volume could significantly increase (Figure 3, Table 1) without any significant structural damage occurring to the emulsion-templated macropores (Figure 1, Table 1). In order to further investigate the effect of the activating agent on the emulsion-templated structure and what may lead to the large increases in surface area, high magnification SEM was performed. When no activation agent was used during carbonization, the surface of the carboHIPE looked relatively smooth and unbroken with the exception of the pore throats in the images (Figure 4a,b). However, in carboHIPE-Act30, the surface was cracked and appeared more damaged after activation in comparison to carbonization with no KOH (Figure 4c,d). Considering the high magnification images of both the carboHIPE and carboHIPE-Act30, a much more porous structure is observed for the latter (Figure 4), with the visible pores mainly in the macropore region (\(>\)50 nm in diameter). This newly formed porous structure may allow better access to the increased amount of micropores throughout the structure, resulting in much higher surface areas.