Juan Hu

High hydrogen storage capacity of porous carbons prepared by using activated carbon.

A kind of activated carbon with further carbon dioxide and potassium hydroxide activations for hydrogen storage was investigated. The carbon dioxide and potassium hydroxide activations have apparently different effects on the pore structures and textures of the activated carbon which closely associated with the hydrogen storage properties. The potassium hydroxide activation can remarkably donate microporosity to the frameworks of the activated carbon. One of the resultant porous carbons exhibited a high surface area of up to 3190 m(2) g(-1) and large gravimetric hydrogen uptake capacity of 7.08 wt % at 77 K and 20 bar, which is one of the largest data reported for the porous carbon materials. This result suggests that the porous carbon with large amounts of active sites, high surface area, and high micropore volume related to optimum pore size could achieve high gravimetric hydrogen storage.

Aligned Graphene Oxide Nanofillers: An Approach to Prepare Highly Thermally Conductive and Electrically Insulative Transparent Polymer Composites

Graphene oxide (GO)/polyvinyl alcohol composites with extremely high in-plane thermal conductivities are prepared by a simple tape casting process using water as process solvent. The in-plane thermal conductivity of the composite can reach 17.61 W/mK at only 0.1 wt% GO loading, which is close to that of fully dense alumina. The excellent thermal conducting ability, the unique two-dimensional morphology, and the all-wet handling of the GO fillers as well as the high orientation of the fillers in the polymer matrix all contribute to the high thermal conductivities achieved. Meanwhile, the composites show good electrical insulation property and decent transparency.