Multi-functional carbon aerogels: their synthesis and structure

Kurzfassung

Multi-functional carbon aerogels represent an advanced area of materials science. They usually consist of aerogel and another material, such as felt, honeycombs, or fibers. These materials combine the outstanding properties of aerogels - such as extremely low density and high porosity - with the properties of fibers or honeycomb. The fibers can be both full or hollow. Full fibers contribute to the mechanical strength and stability. Hollow fibers have a hollow interior that allows liquids or gases to pass through them. This structure gives them a high specific surface area and low density, which makes them ideal for applications in filtration, separation or medical technology. Hollow fibers can also be used in the textile industry to create lightweight and insulating materials. Carbon aerogels from organic precursor, on the other hand, are consisting of spherical particles. They are produced by carbonization of organic aerogels. These aerogels have a very high specific surface area and are known for their excellent properties in terms of electrical conductivity and high porosity. Due to their unique structure, carbon aerogels are used in energy storage, as catalysts and electrode materials, among other things. Carbon aerogels have remarkable limitations with regard to their diffusion efficiency. Due to their dense and irregular pore structure, they have a high tortuosity, which leads to slow fluid diffusion through the aerogel structure. This limits their performance in applications where rapid mass transport is required, such as in energy storage or separation processes. In our poster we present new multi-functional carbon aerogels synthesized from organic aerogels combined with organic fibers. Their synthesis and structural properties such as scanning electron microscope and focused ion beam images, computer tomography, electrical conductivity and thermal stability are discussed in poster. Additionally, the poster illustrates the influence of synthesis parameters on the inner diameter and the wall thickness of hollow tubes, as well as on particle and pore size of spherical particles.