CO2-pressure swing activation for efficient production of highly porous carbons

In this work, we describe a new type of activation method of carbon materials using pressure swing of CO2. The porosity development markedly depends on the pressure swinging frequency. The porous carbon obtained from pressure-swing activation shows an additional porosity development without pitting corrosion on the surface, which occurs on CO2 activation without pressure-swing. This phenomenon is ascribed to the enhancement of Knudsen diffusion and/or configurational diffusion of CO2 which is caused by an exterior stimulus from the pressure swing.