A facile method to prepare carbon aerogels from amphiphilic carbon material

Abstract

Using green needle coke (GNC) based amphiphilic carbonaceous material (ACM) as the only raw material, carbon aerogels was successfully synthesized via a very simple method at room temperature, followed by drying at ambient pressure and carbonization in an inert atmosphere. The resulting product was piled up by highly connected nano-particles with diameters of 30–50nm, which constructed a 3-D architecture also providing certain mesopores and macropores. After being carbonized at 500°C, the diameter of nano-particles shrank to about 25nm and still maintain some connective ligament parts. Meanwhile, N2 sorption analysis showed that the SBET of CAs-500 is 292m2/g and had a wide pore size distribution from micropores to macropores. After further activation, such special dimensional structure guaranteed the carbon aerogel a potential electrode material for electrochemical capacitor.