Ordered mesoporous carbide derived carbons for high pressure gas storage

The design of advanced porous materials is crucial for the development of new energy storage systems for mobile applications. In the following a new class of highly porous carbon structures is applied in gas storage. Ordered mesoporous carbide derived carbons (OM-CDC) were synthesized by chlorination of mesostructured silicon carbide ceramics (OM-SiC). Resulting OM-CDC structures were characterized by nitrogen physisorption methods and small angle X-ray scattering demonstrating high specific surface areas and bimodal pore size distributions by varying the synthesis and chlorination conditions. The adsorption properties could be further enhanced by reductive hydrogen treatment. Storage capacities for mobile applications dependant on the synthesis conditions were investigated in high pressure hydrogen and methane adsorption with extraordinary high uptakes compared to micro- and mesoporous reference materials. In addition, the adsorption kinetics are studied in dynamic n-butane adsorption. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.