Manufacturing of a hierarchical carbon foam with tailored catalytically Me/MexOy particles

Abstract

Carbon foams are characterised by their high specific surface areas (SSAs) in combination with ultra-low densities. Due to these unique properties, carbon foams are particularly suitable for applications such as catalysts, where high surface area is essential. Metals or metal oxides are added to the carbon structure to increase the catalytically effectiveness. In this study, we present a new and efficient manufacturing method, with the potential for a large-scale production resulting in a 3D hierarchical carbon foam with incorporated catalytically metal or metal oxides. The manufacturing starts with the preparation of a ceramic zinc oxide (ZnO) precursor powder containing catalytically active materials (Me/MexOy), uniaxial pressing and sintering yielding to templates. The replication of the template morphology into a hollow carbon structure in the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process, in which the catalytic materials remain in the carbon foam. Furthermore, the morphology of these structures and the grain size distribution are investigated using scanning electron (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The final amount of catalytically particles is analysed by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Finally, the SSA of the synthesised carbon-based catalysts is measured by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method.