(106a) Water Expulsion from Carbon Rods at High Humidity (Invited)

Porous materials including carbons, silica gels and metal organic 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 behavior mechanism, all hydrophilic porous materials exhibit an isotherm in which the quantity of water adsorbed increases with an increase in relative humidity. Recently, we have produced a new class of carbon based materials that exhibit unique water adsorption phenomena. The carbon-based rods can adsorb water at low humidity and spontaneously expel about half the adsorbed water at high relative humidity. Rods synthesized under different reaction conditions (e.g., reaction temperature, and the amount of FeCl3 catalyst used) have different morphology, size and exhibited different RH for onset of water expulsion. We will present the physical and spectroscopic evidence for this behavior and its potential applications.¹

References

1 Nune, S. K. et al. Anomalous water expulsion from carbon-based rods at high humidity. Nat Nanotechnol 11, 791-797 (2016).