Affect of temperatures on the porosity of nanoporous carbon derived from titanium carbide

Abstract

Purpose. The research was aimed to determine the dependence of the specific surface area and pore size distribution on the synthesis temperature for nanoporous carbon obtained from titanium carbide by chlorine treatment. Methodology. Nanoporous carbon has been obtained by treating titanium carbide powder with a stream of chlorine in a flow-type experimental setup at temperature range from 300°C to 1 200 °C. The specific surface area and pore size have been determined using automatic equipment (Quantachrome, USA) with computer control and data processing. To determine the specific surface, the Brunauer – Emmett – Teller (BET) method has been used. The porous structure of carbon, namely the pore volume and its size distribution, has been determined on the basis of the non-local density functional theory (NLDFT) using the software which is supplied with the device. Results . It has been experimentally established that change of chlorination temperature at titanium carbide processing effects on the pore size of the resulting carbon and allows controlling the same pore size in a narrow size range. With increasing temperature, the total pore volume and specific surface area increase as well and reach their maximum value at a synthesis temperature of 1 000 ° C (up to 1 442 m 2 /g according to BET), while the number of micropores decreases and mesoporosity increases. Scientific novelty . It has been found for the first time that due to a change in the temperature of titanium carbide chlorination it is possible to obtain nanoporous carbon with a controlled pore size up to 2 nm. Practical significance . The research results can be used for developing technology of supercapacitor production.