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Preparation of carbon foams with supercritical toluene

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Abstract

Carbon foams with pore sizes of 10–50 μm were prepared with mesophase pitch and toluene as the carbonaceous precursor and supercritical agent, respectively. Results revealed that the light pitch components and dissolved toluene in pitch significantly affected the pore structures of resultant carbon foams. The amount of toluene dissolved in molten pitch is greatly dependent on the foaming conditions, such as the ratio of toluene to pitch, foaming temperature, foaming pressure and saturation time. Carbon foams with hierarchical porous structures are obtained by controlling the amount of light pitch components.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Nos. 50730003, 50672025, 20806024), the Research Fund of China for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20070251008) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2008AA062300).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Juan Li, Can Wang, Guo Cheng, Yan-Li Wang, Liang Zhan, Wen-Ming Qiao & Li-Cheng Ling

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  1. Juan Li
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  2. Can Wang
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  3. Guo Cheng
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  4. Yan-Li Wang
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  5. Liang Zhan
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  6. Wen-Ming Qiao
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  7. Li-Cheng Ling
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Correspondence to Liang Zhan.

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Li, J., Wang, C., Cheng, G. et al. Preparation of carbon foams with supercritical toluene. J Porous Mater 17, 685–691 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-009-9339-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-009-9339-7

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