Morphology and Porosity Enhancement of Graphite Nanofibers through Chemical Etching

Abstract

The morphology, structure, and porosity of graphite nanofibers (GNFs) can be significantly modified through simple exposure of the GNFs to acids, followed by a high temperature treatment. This treatment leads to chemical etching, fiber rupture and/or partial exfoliation. The degree of these somewhat competing processes is dependent upon acid exposure conditions and thermal treatment temperature. As the temperature of thermal treatment is increased, both the surface area and pore volume of the modified GNFs are significantly increased. Low-temperature treatments (600-800 °C) tend to favor the formation of micropores, whereas higher temperatures (>800 °C) lead to the formation of mesopores. An extended heat treatment at 1000 °C after acid exposure produces a drastic increase of mesopores and a pronounced change in fiber morphology, evidenced by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. This ability to select the operative pore size of graphitic nanofibers may lead to applications of these materials for energy storage, size-selective catalysis, as well as separation techniques where a finely controlled graphitic pore structure is desired.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Sponsor(s)

United States. Department of Energy
Petroleum Research Fund

Comments

We are grateful for the financial support from the US Department of Energy (DE-FG26-06NT42675) and the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (43431-G10).

Keywords and Phrases

Adsorption; Etching; Porosity; Porous materials; Graphite nanofibers; Porous carbon; Graphite; Adsorption; Etching; Graphite; Porosity; Porous materials; Porous carbon

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1387-1811

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2008 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Aug 2008

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