Probing mesopore connectivity in hierarchical nanoporous materials

Assessing connectivity of mesopores formed in microporous matrices is of importance for a wide range of applications. In this work we present an experimental study of the transport of n-hexane and nitrobenzene in a commercial activated carbon material containing purposefully introduced mesoporosity. The experimental results on diffusivities and activation energies for diffusion, as obtained using the pulsed field gradient technique of NMR, corroborate the information on pore architecture as resulting from adsorption isotherm measurement and unequivocally demonstrate the material-spanning continuity of the formed mesopore network, as a prerequisite for an unlimited transport enhancement in comparison with the purely microporous equivalent.