Structure Control And Application Of Carbon Foams

Carbon foam is a kind of functional structural material due to its interconnected three-dimensional microstructure. It has attracted much attention because of its special structure and performances, such as adjustable thermal and electrical conductivity, large external surface area and high temperature tolerance. Further more, carbon foams with high external surface area and mechanical strength could be expected to be used as catalyst supports, filters and biological carbons.The structure control of carbon foams with high mechanical strength is investigated as well as the synthesis of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on the surface of carbon foams. The preliminary research on NO removal with MnOx-CeO2/CNFs-carbon foams catalyst is also studied and the results are given as follows.1) Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be dispersed in the mesophase pitch with high-speed agitation and ultrasonic wave. The compressive strength and compressive modulus of CNTs/carbon foam composite with self-bubbling method can be achieved to 3.14 MPa and 4.33 MPa, respectively.2) A layer of CNFs with thickness of several micrometers are synthesized on the surface of carbon foams with chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The opening pore structure of carbon foam can still keep well, and the average diameter of synthesized CNFs is about 20 nm.3) The catalytic activity of MnOx-CeO2/CNFs-carbon foam catalyst for NO removal is preliminary researched. The results indicate that more than 90%NO could be removed in a wide temperature range of 180-220℃.