Electrical resistivity of porous carbon materials, “Woodceramics” at low temperatures

Abstract

Woodceramics obtained by carbonizing woody materials are new carbon materials recently developed for industrial use. They are porous, light, hard and cheap to produce and have heat and corrosion resistance. They are being considered for applications in various fields. We investigated the dependence of the electrical resistivity of Woodceramics at temperatures between 100 K and 300 K, and considered the conduction mechanism of Woodceramics which are porous conductors. The electrical resistivity of Woodceramics decreases as sintering temperature increases. It varies over a wide range. And the resistivity dependence on the temperature of Woodceramics is similar to that of a semiconductor. We propose that the semiconducting behavior is caused by an energy gap decrease which depends on the sintering temperature, as a result of change in size of the graphite micro-crystallites in glassy carbon which is present in Woodceramics.