Calorimetry Characterization of Carbonaceous Materials for Energy Applications: Review

Abstract

Carbonaceous materials are of great interest for several applications in adsorption, cataly- sis, gases storage, and electrochemical energy storage devices because of the ability to modify their pore texture, specific surface area, and surface chemistry. Some of the most used precursors are carbon gels, biomass, carbon nanotubes, and coal. These materials can be doped or functionalized to modify their surface. Immersion calorimetry is one of the techniques used to determine the textural and chemical characterization of solids like carbonaceous materials. Immersion calorimetry provides information about the interac - tions that occur between solids and different immersion liquids. The measurement of heats of immersion into liquids with different molecular sizes allows for the assessment of their pore size distribution. When polar surfaces are analyzed, both the surface accessibil ity of the immersion liquid and the specific interactions between the solid surface and the liquid’s molecules account for the total value of the heat of immersion. Zapata-Benabithe et al., Castillejos et al., Chen et al., and Centeno et al. prepared different materials and used immersion calorimetry into benzene, toluene, and/or water to correlate the external surface area of microporous solids with energy parameters such as specific capacitance or chemical surface (oxygen content, acid groups, or basic groups). This chapter will be compiling a review of the results founded about the calorimetry characterization of car- bonaceous materials for energy area applications. weight loss can be assigned to the carbonization of PAN accompanying with further dehydrogenation and partial denitrogenation. The sample prepared with 0.3 wt.% of PVP showed the most reasonable hierarchical pore structure (2–5, 5–50, and >100 nm), high BET surface area (332.9 m 2 /g), big total pore volume (0.233 m 3 /g), and the best electrochemical performance in 2-M KOH aqueous solution. The specific capacitance was 278 and 206 F/g at 5 and 50 mA/cm 2 , respectively, indicating the suitability of the material as electrode materials for supercapacitors.