TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preparation (claimed): The carbon cryogel having a gas storage capacity of 0.0010 - 0.015 mole/g, is obtainable by preparing a sol by mixing resorcinol, formaldehyde, and a catalyst (preferably sodium carbonate) in water; gelling the sol by heating at a temperature and for a time to provide a gel; washing the gel with acid to provide an acid-washed gel comprising an aqueous solvent; washing the acid-washed gel with an organic solvent to exchange the aqueous solvent for an organic solvent to provide a solvent-exchanged gel; freeze drying the solvent-exchanged gel; and pyrolyzing the solvent-exchanged gel. The process additionally involves heating the carbon cryogel at a temperature (preferably 900degreesC) and for a time (preferably 10 - 120 minutes) under carbon dioxide to provide an activated carbon cryogel. The activation is 5 - 90%. The molar ratio of resorcinol to catalyst is 10 - 300. The weight ratio of resorcinol to water is 0.01 - 2. The gelling the sol involves heating at a temperature (preferably 90degreesC) and for a period of time (preferably 1 - 7 days) to convert the sol to a crosslinked gel. The washing the gel with acid involves washing the gel with aqueous trifluoroacetic acid. Washing the acid-washed gel involves washing the gel with tert-butanol. The pyrolyzing step involves heating at a temperature (preferably 1050degreesC) and for a period of time (preferably 4 hours) under nitrogen to convert the gel to a carbon cryogel. EXAMPLE - Sol was prepared by admixing resorcinol and formaldehyde in stirred deionized water and then adding catalyst at room temperature. The molar ratio of resorcinol to formaldehyde was maintained at 1:2 for the sol, while the molar ratio of resorcinol to sodium carbonate catalyst (R/C) and the mass or molar ratio of resorcinol to water (R/W) were 10 and 0.041 respectively. The resulting sol was sealed in glass ampules or vials and gelled by heating at 90degreesC for at least 24 hours or until gelation was complete (as long as 7 days). No aging was applied after gelation. The resulting resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) hydrogels underwent solvent exchange to replace water with tert-butanol by rinsing 3 times in fresh tert-butanol for 24 hours each time followed by subsequent freeze-drying for 3 days. The resulting RF cryogels were pyrolyzed at 1050degreesC in nitrogen for 4 hours and then activated at 900degreesC in carbon dioxide with a flow rate of 400 SCCM.