Mesoporous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) monolith has been fabricated by a template-free approach using the unique affinity of PAN towards a water/dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) mixture. A newly developed Thermally Induced Phase Separation Technique (TIPS) has been used to obtain the polymer monoliths and their microstructures have been controlled by optimizing the concentration and cooling temperature.

Hybrid porous carbon fibers with strong anion-exchangeable functional groups (HACAX) were synthesized by alkylation of pyrolyzed polyacrylonitrile. HACAX exhibits generic stable positively charged functional groups. This expands the applications of porous carbon media for interacting with anions without adjusting pH, such as Cr(vi) adsorption at natural pH.