(317f) Water Expulsion from Carbon Rods at High Humidity

Water
Expulsion from Carbon Rods at High Humidity

Satish K.
Nune, David J. Heldebrant, David
Lao, Matthew J. Olszta, Yongsoon
Shin, Xiao-Ying Yu and Juan Yao

Porous materials
including carbons, silica gels and metalÐorganic frameworks (MOFs) are used for
water management in various applications including catalysis, dehumidification
and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). Materials performance has
been enhanced through chemical modifications, surface treatments or impregnation
with hygroscopic salts. Regardless of the sorption behaviour/ mechanism,
all porous materials exhibit an isotherm in which the quantity of water
adsorbed increases with an increase in relative humidity. Recently, we have
produced new class of carbon based materials the exhibited unique water
adsorption phenomenon. The carbon-based rods can adsorb water at low humidity
and spontaneously expel about half the adsorbed water at high relative
humidity. Rods
synthesised under different reaction conditions (eg., reaction temperature, and
the amount of FeCl₃ catalyst used) have different morphology, size
and exhibited different RH for the onset of evaporation and amount of water
expelled. We will present the physical and spectroscopic evidence for
this behavior, carbon-based rod growth mechanism and its potential
applications.