Investigation of the ion storage/transfer behavior in an electrical double-layer capacitor by using ordered microporous carbons as model materials.

An ordered microporous carbon, which was prepared with zeolite as a template, was used as a model material to understand the ion storage/transfer behavior in electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC). Several types of such zeolite-templated carbons (ZTCs) with different structures (framework regularity, particle size and pore diameter) were prepared and their EDLC performances were evaluated in an organic electrolyte solution (1 M Et(4)NBF(4)/propylene carbonate). Moreover, a simple method to evaluate a degree of wettability of microporous carbon with propylene carbonate was developed. It was found that the capacitance was almost proportional to the surface area and this linearity was retained even for the carbons with very high surface areas (>2000 m(2) g(-1)). It has often been pointed out that thin pore walls limit capacitance and this usually gives rise to the deviation from linearity, but such a limitation was not observed in ZTCs, despite their very thin pore walls (a single graphene, ca. 0.34 nm). The present study clearly indicates that three-dimensionally connected and regularly arranged micropores were very effective at reducing ion-transfer resistance. Despite relatively small pore diameter ZTCs (ca. 1.2 nm), their power density remained almost unchanged even though the particle size was increased up to several microns. However, when the pore diameter became smaller than 1.2 nm, the power density was decreased due to the difficulty of smooth ion-transfer in such small micropores.

Selective optical property modification of double-walled carbon nanotubes by fluorination.

We found that by fluorination of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs), it is possible to suppress only the Raman radial breathing mode and absorption peaks from the outer (large diameter) tubes of DWNTs. In contrast, Raman signals from the inner shells showed no difference from the pristine DWNTs. The stability of the inner shells of fluorinated DWNTs was also confirmed from the photoluminescence (PL) map and the optical absorption spectra, which only showed the signals from the inner shells of DWNTs, with no distinct change in the optical properties of the inner tubes after fluorination. Our results indicate that once fluorinated, there exists only a weak, if not none, interaction between the inner tube and the outer fluorinated tube, proving that fluorination can be used to suppress the optical properties of carbon nanotubes without interfering the properties of inner tubes. The present finding can be important in electronic and sensor applications, keeping the inner tube from having unwanted contact with other substances that may distract from the inner tube's own characteristics.

Quantum sieving effect of modified activated carbon fibers on H2 and D2 adsorption at 20 K.

Quantum sieving of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) and their fluorides was observed for H(2) and D(2) adsorption at 20 K. Fluorination reduced the slit-shaped pore width of ACFs by 0.2 nm. The activated carbon fibers can act as highly efficient quantum sieves for H(2) and D(2), because the effective size of an H(2) molecule is larger than that of a D(2) molecule due to the uncertainty principle and the molecular size difference between H(2) and D(2) is significant in the micropore space. The D(2)/H(2) selectivity of ACFs evaluated by ideal adsorption solution theory was larger than that of the fluorinated ACFs.