Activated carbon monoliths from particle stabilized foams

Particle stabilized liquid foams are used as templates to obtain carbon-based porous materials with open cell structure, high specific area and hierarchical porosity. This route relies on gel casting to strengthen the structure of the liquid foams, followed by high temperature treatment to eliminate organic components and obtain solid foams. The liquid foam stabilizer was a commercial activated carbon powder, characterized by high porosity and irregular morphology of the particles, associated with a cationic surfactant. The micro-structure and the textural properties of the final solid materials have been investigated by Scanning Electronic Microscopy and Nitrogen adsorption methods. The results show that this method can be used to fabricate high specific area porous materials in the form of monoliths, with adequate consistence and mechanical resistance. The materials obtained seem promising for many practical applications such as gas adsorption, filtering and catalysis.