Supercritical Hydrogen Adsorptivity of Amorphous Carbon Mesotubes

High-pressure adsorption isotherms of hydrogen onto amorphous carbon mesotubes (ACMs) prepared from fluorine polymer and onto activated carbon fibres (ACFs) were measured at temperatures of 77, 196 and 303 K, respectively, at pressures up to 10 MPa. The adsorption isotherms for ACMs and ACFs at 77 K exhibited maxima at 1 MPa (8.0 wt%) and 4 MPa (3.7 wt%), respectively, although both isotherms at 303 K were of the Henry type and both amounts of hydrogen adsorbed at 8 MPa were less than 0.3 wt%. The maximum hydrogen adsorption amount for ACMs per unit micropore volume as determined by N 2 adsorption was 10-times larger than that for ACFs. ACMs are different from ACFs in that they are thought to have specific ultramicropores, although characterization using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy showed that they possessed a nanographitic structure similar to that of ACFs.