uniformly loaded into porous carbon at low temperaturesand pore structures were also modified by the reaction ofcarbon atoms with the manganese oxide. However, theloading uniformity of manganese oxide was destroyedwhen the heat treatment temperature was above 400 �C.Manganese oxides were amorphous when the compositematerials were dried at 110 �C and 400 �C, but turned intoc-Mn2O3 at 800 �C. The single-electrode specific capaci-tance of composites loaded with 1.7 wt% manganese oxideand dried at 110 �C in air reached 340 F/g, which is 34%higher than that for a pure porous carbon electrode.

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):227–34]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.019

Preparation and electrochemical properties of nano-Si/C

compositesXiao-Hong Chen, Huai-he Song, Shu-bin Yang

State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering,

Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029,

China

A nano-Si/C composite as the anode material for a lith-ium-ion secondary battery was prepared by polymerizationand condensation of petroleum heavy oil with dispersednano-Si powders at 460 �C and carbonization at 900 �C.The influences of adding nano-Si powders to heavy oil onyield, microstructures and electrochemical properties wereinvestigated. Results showed that the addition of nano-Sipowders is beneficial for increasing the yield of solid prod-ucts. Nano-Si powders were uniformly embedded in thecarbon matrix and the crystallinity of nano-Si powdershad no change before and after polymerization. Thenano-Si/C composite had a first reversible capacity of498 mAh/g and a cycle efficiency of 90%.

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):235–41]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.020

Detonation of expandable graphite to make micron-size

powder

Gui-lei Sun, Xiao-jie Li, Hong-hao Yan

State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial

Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian

University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China

A method to produce graphite micro-powder by detona-tion was provided and the detonated powder was charac-terized by XRD, SEM and nitrogen adsorption. Resultsindicated that the particle size of the detonated expandablegraphite powder were in the range of 1–10 lm, the BETspecific surface area increased from 8.096 to 47.48 m2/g,

while the crystal parameters and flake-like morphologieschanged little. Detonation offered a more convenient, quickand energy-saving method to make micrometer-sizedgraphite powder.

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):242–6]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.021

A novel thermal gradient chemical vapor infiltration processfor carbon–carbon composites

Shameel Farhan, Ke-zhi Li, Ling-jun Guo

School of Materials Science, Northwestern Polytechnical

University, Xi’an 710072, China

Solid cylindrical carbon–carbon composites were pro-cessed using conventional thermal gradient chemical vaporinfiltration. High thermal conductivity (55 W/m�C) carbonfibers (48 k) were inserted in the center of a cylindrical lowthermal conductivity (0.15 W/m�C) needle punched carbonfelt preform, to create a thermal gradient because of thedifference in thermal conductivities. The hottest portion(900–1200 �C) was along the inserted carbon fibers, wherethe pyrolytic reaction of natural gas occurred. The densifi-cation radially moved outwards and ultimately a density of1.778 g/cm3 was obtained after 67 h. The process parame-ters such as the electric power of the furnace, electricalresistance of the sample, densification time, and the posi-tion of the deposition layer were studied. A densified sam-ple having a volume fraction of carbon fibers of 10% wastested for ablation and erosion. The microstructure of thepyrolytic carbon matrix of the as-prepared sample wasinvestigated by polarized light microscopy and scanningelectron microscopy.

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):247–52]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.022

Template-free fabrication of macroporous carbon materials

with Pt nanoparticlesShu-xia Liu, Jun-hui He

Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese

Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China

The preparation of macroporous carbon materials con-taining Pt nanoparticles was investigated. Starch andH2PtCl6 were used as the carbon and Pt source, respec-tively. Two impregnation methods were used to incorpo-rate Pt into the starch gel based macroporous carbon. Inthe first (A) the starch gel monolith was soaked in H2PtCl6and reduced by NaBH4. In the second (B) H2PtCl6 wasadded to the precursors before the starch gel monolith for-mation. It was found that the size and wall thickness of the

3062 Abstracts / Carbon 45 (2007) 3060–3064

macropores of the samples could be controlled by adjustingthe starch content, and the carbon yield was increased from24% to 37% for method A and to 44% for method B. Thevolume expansion during the carbonization was also sup-pressed. A smaller particle size and narrow size distribution(average particle diameter is 5 nm, average particle diame-ter deviation is 0.9 nm) were obtained by method B, com-pared to method A (average particle diameter is 5.5 nm,average particle diameter deviation is 1.8 nm).

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):253–8]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.023

Preparation of mesophase pitch based mesoporous carbons

using an imprinting method

Ying Liu, liang Zhan, Rui Zhang, Wen-ming Qiao, Xiao-

yi Liang, Li-cheng Ling

State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China

University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237,

China

Mesoporous carbons (MCs) were prepared by animprinting method, using mesophase pitch and nanometercolloidal silica solution as carbon precursors and pore gen-erators, respectively. The effects of the type of mesophasepitch, the imprinting temperature, and the silica contenton the porous properties of MCs were investigated. Itwas found that the pore size distributions of MCs were sim-ilar irrespective of the imprinting temperature and theamount of silica used because of the imprinting mecha-nism. The mesopore volume of MCs increased with anincreasing amount of silica. There existed an optimumimprinting temperature slightly higher than the softeningpoint of the mesophase pitch used. Easy imprinting wasfound for naphthalene based mesophase pitch with a lowsoftening point and fine average particle size as comparedwith a coal based mesophase pitch. Mesoporous carbonswere provided with a specific surface area and a total porevolume of 482 m2/g and 1.62 cm3/g, respectively.

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):259–63]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.024

Activated carbon production from lignite in supercritical

water

Le-ming Cheng a,b, Wei Jiang a,b, Rong Zhang a, Ji-cheng

Bi a

a State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of

Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan

030001, Chinab Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Beijing 100039, China

Conversion of Xiaolongtan lignite to activated carbonwas conducted in a semi-continuous supercritical water(SCW) reactor. The effects of temperature (600–700 �C),pressure (0.1–30 MPa) and KOH loading (mass fraction0–15%) were investigated. The coal conversion, iodinenumber and BET surface area of the activated carbonincrease with temperature, and the meso-pore formationis also enhanced at relatively higher temperatures. Com-pared with steam activation at ambient pressure at thesame temperature, SCW activation yields activated carbonwith an excellent adsorption and develops mesopores.When the activation pressure increase from 0.1 MPa to25 MPa at 650 �C, the BET surface area and meso-poreratio increase by 74% and 38%, respectively. The activatedcarbon has a BET surface area of 825 m2/g with the addi-tion of 10 wt% KOH in lignite as catalyst. Moreover, theash content of the activated carbon is lower than mass frac-tion 2% after washing with dilute HCl.

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):264–70]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.025

Progress on aligned carbon nanotube arrays

Fei Wei, Qiang Zhang, Wei-Zhong Qian, Guang-Hui Xu,

Rong Xiang, Qian Wen, Yao Wang, Guo-Hua Luo

Beijing Key laboratory of Green Chemical, Reaction Engi-

neering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineer-

ing, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Current research advances on CNT arrays are reviewedwith an emphasis on synthesis. The growth mechanism,structure modulation and mass production of CNT arraysare also discussed. Various applications of the as-grownCNT arrays, CNT yarns and dispersed CNTs from thearrays in a composite, strength enhancement and functionaldevices are also summarized. It is pointed that the researchtrend on CNT arrays should be emphasized for the largescale production of CNT arrays and their applications.

[New Carbon Materials 2007;22(3):271–82]

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2007.09.026

A brief overview on the Carbon 2007 conference

Chang Liu, Hui-ming Cheng

Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science,

Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Shenyang 110016, China

The International Carbon Conference, Carbon 2007,was held in Seattle, USA, hosted by the American CarbonSociety and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, during July15–20, 2007. About 430 attendees participated in the

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