RESUMEN
(1)H NMR spectroscopy is used to investigate a series of microporous activated carbons derived from a poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) precursor with varying amounts of burnoff (BO). In particular, properties relevant to hydrogen storage are evaluated such as pore structure, average pore size, uptake, and binding energy. High-pressure NMR with in situ H(2) loading is employed with H(2) pressure ranging from 100 Pa to 10 MPa. An N(2)-cooled cryostat allows for NMR isotherm measurements at both room temperature ( approximately 290 K) and 100 K. Two distinct (1)H NMR peaks appear in the spectra which represent the gaseous H(2) in intergranular pores and the H(2) residing in micropores. The chemical shift of the micropore peak is observed to evolve with changing pressure, the magnitude of this effect being correlated to the amount of BO and therefore the structure. This is attributed to the different pressure dependence of the amount of adsorbed and non-adsorbed molecules within micropores, which experience significantly different chemical shifts due to the strong distance dependence of the ring current effect. In pores with a critical diameter of 1.2 nm or less, no pressure dependence is observed because they are not wide enough to host non-adsorbed molecules; this is the case for samples with less than 35% BO. The largest estimated pore size that can contribute to the micropore peak is estimated to be around 2.4 nm. The total H(2) uptake associated with pores of this size or smaller is evaluated via a calibration of the isotherms, with the highest amount being observed at 59% BO. Two binding energies are present in the micropores, with the lower, more dominant one being on the order of 5 kJ mol(-1) and the higher one ranging from 7 to 9 kJ mol(-1).
RESUMEN
Porous carbon is the most widely used electrode materials in energy storage devices. It is generally accepted that in such electrodes, mesoporosity is more desired in supercapacitor than microporosity for the ions tranportation. However, the relatively poor conductivity of porous carbon often leads to low capacitance. To improve the capacity of mesoporous carbon based electrode, we designed a composite film composed of mesoporous carbon, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and conducting polymer, Poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT-PSS), and hoped that each component in the composed film could contribute synergetically to improve electrochemical properties. The electrochemical performance of the film was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and constant current charge/discharge method. With the assistance of MWNTs and conducting polymer, the specific capacitance of the mesoporous carbon based electrode was amplified six times. The electrode also presented excellent charge/discharge rate and good cycling stability, retaining about 94% of its initial capacitance after 1000 cycles. The results demonstrated that mesoporous carbon is more effectively utilized with assistance of MWNTs and conducting polymer in the electrode. Such method is very promising for the future applications of the porous carbon in electrode materials for high performance electrochemical supercapacitors.