Porous Sheet Research Articles

Single step grown porous polycrystalline nickel microstructures with ultra-thin defect rich surface oxide for alkaline water oxidation

Investigation on the intrinsic catalytic activity of structurally diverse polycrystalline nickel microstructures such as porous nickel sheets (PNS), porous folded/curled nickel structures (PFNS) and porous nickel balls (PNB) revealed the surface bounded electrocatalytic activities within an alkaline reaction environment for water oxidation. Nickel microstructures were grown via template/surfactant-free, single step solution combustion technique in air atmosphere. The distinct morphologies (porous nickel sheets, porous folded/curled nickel structures and porous nickel balls) were achieved through changing the quantity of HNO3 in the reaction mixture. The physicochemical characterisations were done with XRD, FESEM, EDS and XPS. Microscopic studies revealed the growth of nickel grains with numerous macro pores forming microstructures in distinct morphologies. The O ls spectra of XPS studies revealed the presence of O−/O2− sites and Ni 2p spectra were distinguished between the formation of Ni0/Ni2+/Ni3+ states, implied the existence of surface oxide with plenty of defects. The synergistic effect results from the formation of microscopic porous architectures with defect rich surface oxide on the electrochemical behaviour and OER activity of PNS, PFNS and PNB were discussed with electrochemical techniques such as CV, LSV, EIS and CP. The OER kinetics in terms of relatively low value of overpotential at 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slope along with high specific activity of PNS/GCE with respect to PFNS/GCE and PNB/GCE were attributed to the combined effect of increase in electrochemical surface area, high roughness factor and fast charge transfer kinetics. The better electrochemical performance and OER activities of porous nickel sheets in comparison with folded/curled nickel structures and nickel balls is contributed to the unique 2D porous architecture with plenty of oxygen vacancies. This structure not only expose more surface for the formation of passive oxide layer in an alkaline reaction environment but also exhibit facile charge transport properties, causes the generation of numerous surface-active sites for electrocatalytic water oxidation. The outcome of our work gives new insights on the surface electrochemistry of polycrystalline nickel, enables micro-structuring as a prospective strategy towards the optimization of electrocatalysts as anode material for alkaline water oxidation.

Relating the ultrasonic and aerosol filtration properties of filters

Non-contact methods are useful to improve the quality control of particle filtration media. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation between the filtration efficiency of a porous sheet and its ultrasonic properties obtained using a non-contact technique. An air-coupled ultrasonic technique is used to obtain rapid measurements without affecting the integrity of the material. High frequencies (from 0.1 to 2.5 MHz) are used to improve technique sensitivity, and transmitted waves are measured to probe the internal properties of the material. Measurements of transmission coefficient spectra (amplitude and phase) and the corresponding ultrasound velocity and attenuation coefficient at different frequencies are obtained for a set of filtration media with well-characterized properties. Results show that the ultrasonic properties of filtration media vary as a function of basis weight, and therefore filtration efficiency, for a given charge state. However, the effect of electrostatic charge on ultrasonic propagation is almost negligible, as expected. We conclude that ultrasonic transmission may provide a valuable tool for the continuous online monitoring of material quality during fabrication and as a method to tease apart mechanical and electrostatic contributions to particle filtration.

Turbulent and non-turbulent analysis of thermomagnetic convection and heat transfer of darcian radiative nanofluid flow across inclined stretching surface in microgravity environment

Turbulent and non-turbulent analysis of thermomagnetic convection, heating rate and mass transport of Darcian radiating nanofluid flow through porous slanted sheet is the aim of present study. Influence of microgravity is more useful for the movement of thermophoresis nanoparticles with maximum temperature and density. Joule heating, porous medium, magnetic field and thermal radiations are incorporated for the performance of thermal convection. Governing equations are reduced in dimensionless form. Oscillatory stokes conditions are applied to separate the steady, real and imaginary equations. Finite difference, Primitive transformation, and Gaussian elimination techniques are applied for numerical outputs. For asymptotic results, the appropriate range of parameters such as 0.1≤JH≤15.0, 0.1≤Pr≤12.0, 0.1≤Rd≤25.0, 0.0≤λT≤5.0, 0.1≤NT≤1.0, 0.1≤Fr≥6.0, and 0.1≤δ≤1.0 is utilized. Main novelty of work is to examine the steady state and oscillatory behavior of friction-rate, heat/mass transport over slanted two-angles π/6 and π/4. Maximum amplitude in fluid velocity is observed by increasing radiations and buoyant forces. Temperature distribution and nanomaterial concentrations enhance as Joule-heating and Prandtl number increases under microgravity region. Amplitude and oscillation of heat and mass rate is increased as reaction rate, Joule heating and Forchheimer parameter increases. Enhancing behavior of energy transport is observed for maximum choice of Prandtl index with small magnetic effects. It is depicted that high rate of oscillating frequency in heat transmission is detected with maximum radiation effects.

Polymer-Supported Graphene Sheet as a Vertically Conductive Anode of Lithium-Ion Battery.

The increasing demand for electric vehicles necessitates the development of cost-effective, mass-producible, long-lasting, and highly conductive batteries. Making this kind of battery is exceedingly tricky. This study introduces an innovative fabrication technique utilizing a laser-induced graphene (LIG) approach on commercial Kapton film to create hexagonal pores. These pores form vertical conduction paths for electron and ion transportation during lithiation and delithiation, significantly enhancing conductivity. The nongraphitized portion of the Kapton film makes it a binder-less, free-standing electrode, providing mechanical stability. Various analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are utilized to confirm the transformation of a 3D porous graphene sheet from a commercial Kapton film. Cross-sectional SEM images verify the vertical connections. The specific capacity of 581 mAh g-1 is maintained until the end, with 99% coulombic efficiency at 0.1C. This simple manufacturing method paves the pathway for future LIG-based, cost-effective, lightweight, mass-producible, long-lasting, vertically conductive electrodes for lithium-ion batteries.

Holey Sheets Enhance the Packing and Osmotic Energy Harvesting of Graphene Oxide Membranes.

Layered membranes assembled from two-dimensional (2D) building blocks such as graphene oxide (GO) are of significant interest in desalination and osmotic power generation because of their ability to selectively transport ions through interconnected 2D nanochannels between stacked layers. However, architectural defects in the final assembled membranes (e.g., wrinkles, voids, and folded layers), which are hard to avoid due to mechanical compliant issues of the sheets during the membrane assembly, disrupt the ionic channel pathways and degrade the stacking geometry of the sheets. This leads to degraded ionic transport performance and the overall structural integrity. In this study, we demonstrate that introducing in-plane nanopores on GO sheets is an effective way to suppress the formation of such architectural imperfections, leading to a more homogeneous membrane. Stacking of porous GO sheets becomes significantly more compact, as the presence of nanopores makes the sheets mechanically softer and more compliant. The resulting membranes exhibit ideal lamellar microstructures with well-aligned and uniform nanochannel pathways. The well-defined nanochannels afford excellent ionic conductivity with an effective transport pathway, resulting in fast, selective ion transport. When applied as a nanofluidic membrane in an osmotic power generation system, the holey GO membrane exhibits higher osmotic power density (13.15 W m-2) and conversion efficiency (46.6%) than the pristine GO membrane under a KCl concentration gradient of 1000-fold.

Construction of Bi/Bi2O3 particles embedded in carbon sheets for boosting the storage capacity of potassium-ion batteries

Bismuth-based materials have attracted interest in potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). However, the large volume expansion prevents further use of bismuth-based materials for potassium storage. This work employs a two-step synthesis method to innovatively synthesize of Bi/Bi2O3 nanoparticles assembled on N-doped porous carbon sheets (Bi/Bi2O3@CN). The layered structures with uniformly shaped and N-doped porous carbon skeleton buffer the expansion of Bi and the Bi/Bi2O3 particles increase the capacity of potassium storage. In brief, the Bi/Bi2O3@CN served as anode in half-cell of PIBs have a good rate capacity of more than 234.7 mAh/g at 20 A/g. The specific capacity retention was 73 % compared with 322.16 mAh/g at 1 A/g, demonstrating good holding capacity for diverse current densities. The cycle also displays 163 mAh/g after 1500 cycles at 2 A/g in the KPF6 metal salt solution, showing its potential as one of the anode materials in PIBs.

Facile synthesis of N-doped hierarchical porous carbon sheets from biomass for supercapacitors

N-doped hierarchical porous carbon sheet was prepared through calcination of a sodium alginate film precursors containing Zn-2-methylimidazole coordination complex. The film precursors could be obtained at room temperature. The introduction of coordination complex cannot cause the change of sheet morphology, but it can promote the generation of large pore structure. Due to the hierarchical porous structure and N doping, the carbon materials present excellent electrochemical behaviors when used as supercapacitor electrode materials. It exhibited a high specific capacitance of 210.4 F g−1 at 2 A g−1 in a two-electrode system with a capacitance retention of 83.4% over 10,000 cycles.

Biomimetic mineralization coupling with seeds-induced foaming for optimizing carbon microstructure towards ultrafast sodium ion storage

Porous carbons show high surface area and capacity but suffer from uncontrollable structure, inferior initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) and rate capability in Na+ storage. Herein, we propose a strategy of biomimetic mineralization coupling with seeds-induced foaming to optimize porous carbon sheets (CNMK) with excellent performance in ICE of 90 %, rate capability of 528 mAh g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 and 139 mAh g−1 at 50 A g−1, and capacity retention of 81 % over 5500 cycles at 20 A g−1 (half-cell); energy density of 223 Wh kg−1 (CNMK//Na3V2(PO4)3 full-cell). The reasons for such outstanding performance are as follows: (1) The “disorder-in-order” structure (rich defects/pores in graphitic network) favours Na+ storage and electrons transportation (same electrolyte). (2) The ether electrolyte shows superior Na+ storage kinetics than ester electrolyte (same anode). These results will provide an effective and practical strategy for developing advanced carbon materials and give new insights into the synergistic effect between carbon structure and ether electrolyte in Na+ storage.

Rapid photothermal reduction-derived Pt1.6Ni nanoalloys embedded in laser-induced graphene for hydrogen evolution reaction

Water electrolysis is one of the most intriguing technologies for hydrogen production because of its carbon-neutral nature, however the development of efficient electrocatalysts is required to improve the energy conversion efficiency of water splitting. In this study, we suggest a facile route for the fabrication of Pt1.6Ni nanoalloys on laser-induced graphene (Pt1.6Ni NAs/LIG) by the photothermal reduction using commercial CO2 laser which is irradiated on the surface of the LIG. The laser ablation process on the polyimide (PI) film resulted in porous and interconnected graphene sheets, while uniform nanoparticles with an average size of around 4.5 nm were decorated on their surface by the photothermal reduction effect. The overall process took only 60 s. Bonding structure investigation confirmed that PI film was successfully transformed into a graphene structure and the metal precursors were converted into bimetallic nanoalloy by using Raman spectroscopy and XPS, respectively. Electrochemical measurements for hydrogen evolution reaction discovered that the Pt1.6Ni NAs/LIG showed superior catalytic performance which required an overpotential of only 96 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2. It exhibited superior catalytic activity compared to LIG (740 mV), Pt NPs/LIG (204 mV), and PtNi1.6 NAs/LIG (205 mV), as well as other previously reported catalysts at the same current density. Based on these results, the Pt1.6Ni NAs/LIG was employed for hydrogen gas collection and detection. The generated bubbles were collected separately from both electrodes, and their compositions with evolution rate were confirmed to be hydrogen using a commercial H2 sensor.

Semi-analytical solution of MHD free convective flow of a nanofluid over an exponentially stretching porous sheet in the presence of heat source/sink

In this study, the magnetohydrodynamic flow and heat transfer of electrically conducting nanofluid over an exponentially stretching porous sheet is investigated. By introducing similarity variables, the non-linear set of partial differential governing equations, are transformed into a system of ordinary nonlinear differential equations. The equations are solved semi-analytically by the Optimal Collocation Method (OCM) which is a powerful method to solve equations containing infinite boundary conditions. The accuracy of the OCM results is examined by the Richardson method. The effects of the different physical parameters such as magnetic field strength, nanofluid volume fraction, suction strength, and the heat sink/source value are discussed on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of the problem. The obtained results show that the velocity and temperature of nanofluid increase with the increase in volume fraction. Also, when suction increases, the thickness of the boundary layers decreases. As the strength of the magnetic field (Hartmann) increases, the temperature slightly increases but the flow rate of the nanofluid decreases. The skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number increase when the values of suction parameters, volume fraction, magnetic field, and the field angle increase.

Thermal Transportation in Heat Generating and Chemically Reacting MHD Maxwell Hybrid Nanofluid Flow Past Inclined Stretching Porous Sheet in Porous Medium with Solar Radiation Effects

The emerging concept of hybrid nanofluids has grabbed the attention of researchers and scientists due to improved thermal performance because of their remarkable thermal conductivities. These fluids have enormous applications in engineering and industrial sectors. Therefore, the present research study examines thermal and mass transportation in hybrid nanofluid past an inclined linearly stretching sheet using the Maxwell fluid model. In the current problem, the hybrid nanofluid is engineered by suspending a mixture of aluminum oxide Al2O3 and copper Cu nanoparticles in ethylene glycol. The fluid flow is generated due to the linear stretching of the sheet and the sheet is kept inclined at the angle ζ=π/6 embedded in porous medium. The current proposed model also includes the Lorentz force, solar radiation, heat generation, linear chemical reactions, and permeability of the plate effects. Here, in the current simulation, the cylindrical shape of the nanoparticles is considered, as this shape has proven to be excellent for the thermal performance of the nanomaterials. The governing equations transformed into ordinary differential equations are solved using MATLAB bvp4c solver. The velocity field declines with increasing magnetic field parameter, Maxwell fluid parameter, volume fractions of nanoparticles, and porosity parameter but increases with growing suction parameter. The temperature drops with increasing magnetic field force and suction parameter values but increases with increasing radiation parameter and volume fraction values. The concentration profile increases with increasing magnetic field parameters, porosity parameters, and volume fractions but reduces with increasing chemical reaction parameters and suction parameters. It has been noted that the purpose of the inclusion of thermal radiation is to augment the temperature that is serving the purpose in the current work. The addition of Lorentz force slows down the speed of the fluid and raises the boundary layer thickness, which is visible in the current study. It has been concluded that, when heat generation parameters increase, the temperature field increases correspondingly for both nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids. The increase in the volume fraction of the nanoparticles is used to enhance the thermal performance of the hybrid nanofluid, which is evident in the current results. The current results are validated by comparing them with published ones.

Microgravity analysis of periodic oscillations of heat and mass transfer of Darcy-Forchheimer nanofluid along radiating stretching surface with Joule heating effects

Reduced gravity impact on mixed convection flow plays a significant role for designing of electric-generating plants in space, unwanted effects of free convection, thermodynamic stability, space devices, surface tension and movement of nanoparticles. The novelty of present work is to find the impact of reduced gravity, Joule heating and thermal radiations on Darcy Forchheimer magnetized flow of nanofluid along the stretching porous sheet. The variable gravity is assumed as temperature dependent with maximum density and maximum density. The governing model is converted into convenient model to find physical thermo parameters. The primitive steady, real and imaginary equations are formed by using stokes and primitive transformations. To make programming algorithm in FORTRAN Lahey-90/95, the primitively terms are deduced in each equation. For tabular and numerical findings of steady velocity, temperature and concentration, the implicit form of finite difference approach is applied with Gaussian elimination method. The fluctuating skin friction, fluctuating heat transfer and fluctuating mass transfer are displayed by using steady outcomes in main formula. It is found that the magnitude of fluid velocity enhances as magnetic force, reduced gravity and Darcy Forchheimer parameter enhances. It is concluded that temperature distribution decreases as magnetic force enhances. It is noted that oscillating frequency in skin friction and heat transfer enhances as Schmidt number enhances. It is found that the maximum fluctuating layer in heat and mass transfer enhances as Prandtl number enhances.

Computational analysis of thermal performance of temperature dependent density and Arrhenius-activation energy of chemically reacting nanofluid along polymer porous sheet in high temperature differences

An innovative technique to improve heat transmission is the use of nanofluids. Nanofluids have a significant thermal conductivity for better heat transport. For the thermal behavior of a porous polymer sheet, activation energy assessment is a useful technique for the advancement of the thermal properties of polymers. The governing model is developed for the numerical and physical analysis of heat transfer of porous polymer sheets. The present model is converted into a smooth format for the accuracy of results. The Keller box and Newton–Raphson approaches are used to calculate the thermal properties numerically. The novelty of this research is the depiction of the temperature distributions and heat transfer of chemically reacting thermophoretic nanomaterials along porous polymer stretching sheets. It is noted that the velocity and temperature of thermophoretic nanoparticles decreases and nanoparticle concentration increases as activation energy increases. It is noted that the velocity of nanoparticles increases and concentration decreases as the temperature difference increases. The enhanced heating transfer with maximum thermophoretic transportation was depicted under maximum reaction and activation energy. It is observed that the mass transfer of nanomaterials increases as the Brownian motion of thermophoretic nanomaterials enhances.

Numerical Simulation of the Transport of Gas Species in the PVT Growth of Single‐Crystal SiC

AbstractSingle‐crystal silicon carbide (SiC) is an important semiconductor material for the fabrication of power and radio frequency (RF) devices. The major technique for growing single‐crystal SiC is the so‐called physical vapor transport (PVT) method, in which not only the thermal field but also the fluid‐flow field and the distribution of gas species can be hardly measured directly. In this study, a multi‐component flow model is proposed that includes the inside and outside of a growth chamber and a joint between the seed crystal holder and crucible which allows exchanges of the gas species. The joint is simulated as a thin porous graphite sheet. The Hertz‐Knudsen equation is used to describe the sublimation and deposition. The convection and diffusion are described by the Navier–Stokes equations and mixture‐averaged diffusion model, in which the Stefan flow is taken into account. The numerical simulations are conducted by the finite element method (FEM) with a multi‐physics coupled model, which is able to predict the fluid flow field, species distribution field, crystal growth rate, and evolution of the molar concentration of dopant gas. Using this model, the effects of several experimental conditions on the transport of gas species and the growth rate of single‐crystal SiC are analyzed.

An impact of Richardson number on the inclined MHD mixed convective flow with heat and mass transfer

AbstractThe two‐dimensional mixed convective MHD flow with heat and mass transfer is investigated for its behavior with Dufour and Soret mechanisms over the porous sheet. The copper–alumina (Cu–Al2O3) hybrid nanoparticles are used in the base fluid water. The governing system of partial differential equations is converted into a system of ordinary differential equations via similarity transformations, obtaining the solution for velocity, temperature, and concentration fields in exponential form. The problem is demonstrated in the Darcy–Brinkman model, the impact of included parameters such as Richardson number, magnetic field, and Dufour numbers are studied for the obtained solution with the help of graphs. Increasing the magnetic field decreases both transverse and axial velocity profiles. Increasing the magnetic field and Richardson's number decreases the solution (Al2O3–H2O). Increasing the values magnetic field and Richardson's number decreases both transverse and axial velocity profiles. Increasing the values of the Dufour effect increases the axial and transverse velocity boundary layer. The magnetohydrodynamic hybrid nanofluid flow over porous media works efficiently in liquid cooling and, therefore, has significant applications in industrial heating and cooling systems, solar energy, magnetohydrodynamic flow meters and pumps, manufacturing, regenerative heat exchange, thermal energy storage, solar power collectors, geothermal recovery, and chemical catalytic reactors.

Heat supply to and hydrogen desorption from magnesium hydride in a thermally insulated container with hot gas flow

We experimentally studied hydrogen desorption from MgH2 by supplying heat via a hot gas flow. Porous sheets of MgH2 held in a sponge-like carbon nanotube (CNT) matrix were developed and placed in a coaxial double-tube reactor. Ar gas was heated using a cylindrical heater and then flowed alongside the MgH2-CNT sheets, thereby increasing the temperature of the sheets and enabling the desorption of hydrogen into the gas flow. The total energy efficiency was approximately 6.2% when 64% of hydrogen in MgH2 was desorbed. A numerical simulation was conducted for the heat transfer and hydrogen desorption, and the obtained results were consistent with the experimental results. According to the simulation, the low energy efficiency was attributed to the small heat capacity ratio of MgH2 to the reactor (0.082) and considerable radiative heat loss (53%). The simulation was used to predict energy efficiency improvements, and the efficiency was considered to increase to 12% upon increasing the heat capacity ratio from 0.082 to 1.4, and further to 21% upon doubling the Ar flow rate, which enhanced the convective heat transfer from the heater to MgH2.

Prandtl-eyring couple stressed flow within a porous region counting homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions across a stretched porous sheet

The movement of a non-Newtonian incompressible Prandtl-Eyring fluid layer over a stretching/shrinking permeable plate is shown in the current work. The flow is stressed by an additional couple stress, altered by a uniform normal magnetic field, and saturated in a permeable material. Heat transmission is demonstrated using a temperature-dependent heat source, an exponential space-dependent heat source, Joule heating, and viscous dissipations. Momentum, energy, and chemical type concentration equations, coupled with appropriate boundary conditions, support the mathematical structure. The novel aspect of the current work comes from considering species mass transfer using heterogeneous and homogeneous biochemical reactions along with the effects of thermal diffusion in the aforementioned flow. The reaction processes are isothermal with identical coefficients of chemical species. The leading nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations utilizing appropriate similarity transformations. The homotopy perturbation method examines these equations. As a result, the primary objective distributions' analytical solutions are derived, and a graphical representation of them is produced to show the effects of the pertinent physical elements. The heterogeneity reaction serves as a dual role parameter in this diffusion, while the homogeneity reaction has been discovered to be a decreasing factor for particle diffusion. The ability of suction or injection via a permeable surface is observed to reduce the velocity and heat transmission, meanwhile, increasing chemical species condensation.

A Copper-Based Metal-Organic Framework for Selective Separation of C2 Hydrocarbons from Methane at Ambient Conditions: Experiment and Simulation.

C2 hydrocarbon separation from methane represents a technological challenge for natural gas upgrading. Herein, we report a new metal-organic framework, [Cu2L(DEF)2]·2DEF (UNT-14; H4L = 4,4',4″,4‴-((1E,1'E,1″E,1‴E)-benzene-1,2,4,5-tetrayltetrakis(ethene-2,1-diyl))tetrabenzoic acid; DEF = N,N-diethylformamide; UNT = University of North Texas). The linker design will potentially increase the surface area and adsorption energy owing to π(hydrocarbon)-π(linker)/M interactions, hence increasing C2 hydrocarbon/CH4 separation. Crystallographic data unravel an sql topology for UNT-14, whereby [Cu2(COO)4]···[L]4- paddle-wheel units afford two-dimensional porous sheets. Activated UNT-14a exhibits moderate porosity with an experimental Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 480 m2 g-1 (vs 1868 m2 g-1 from the crystallographic data). UNT-14a exhibits considerable C2 uptake capacity under ambient conditions vs CH4. GCMC simulations reveal higher isosteric heats of adsorption (Qst) and Henry's coefficients (KH) for UNT-14a vs related literature MOFs. Ideal adsorbed solution theory yields favorable adsorption selectivity of UNT-14a for equimolar C2Hn/CH4 gas mixtures, attaining 31.1, 11.9, and 14.8 for equimolar mixtures of C2H6/CH4, C2H4/CH4, and C2H2/CH4, respectively, manifesting efficient C2 hydrocarbon/CH4 separation. The highest C2 uptake and Qst being for ethane are also desirable technologically; it is attributed to the greatest number of "agostic" or other dispersion C-H bond interactions (6) vs 4/2/4 for ethylene/acetylene/methane.

Effects of Soil Moisture Content Variations on Fruit Quality and Tree Stress in Satsuma Mandarin ‘Miyagawa Wase’ during Porous Sheet Mulching Cultivation

Effects of Soil Moisture Content Variations on Fruit Quality and Tree Stress in Satsuma Mandarin ‘Miyagawa Wase’ during Porous Sheet Mulching Cultivation

R‐Vine Copulas for Data‐Driven Quantification of Descriptor Relationships in Porous Materials

AbstractLocal variations in the 3D microstructure can control the macroscopic behavior of heterogeneous porous materials. For example, the permittivity through porous sheets or membranes is governed by local high‐volume pathways or bottlenecks. Due to local variations, unfeasibly large amounts of microstructure data may be needed to reliably predict such material properties directly from image data. Here it is demonstrated that a vine copula approach provides parametric models for local microstructure descriptors that compactly capture the 3D microstructure including its local variations and efficiently probe it with respect to selected, measurable properties. In contrast to common methods of complexity reduction, the proposed approach creates parametric models for the multivariate probability distribution of high‐dimensional descriptor vectors that inherently contain the complex, nonlinear dependencies between these descriptors. Therein, material properties are offered in physically motivated distributions of microstructure descriptors rather than as normally distributed data. Applied to porous fiber networks (paper) before and after unidirectional compression, it is shown that the copula‐based models reveal material‐characteristic relationships between two or more microstructure descriptors. In this way, the presented modeling approach can provide deeper insight into the microscopic origin of effective macroscopic properties of heterogeneous porous materials.