A facile method to prepare carbon aerogels from amphiphilic carbon material

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 30-50 nm, which constructed a 3-D architecture also providing certain mesopores and macropores. After being carbonized at 500 degrees C, the diameter of nano-particles shrank to about 25 nm and still maintain some connective ligament parts. Meanwhile, N-2 sorption analysis showed that the S-BET of CAs-500 is 292 m(2)/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. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.