Sanju Gupta1
Penn State University1
We report quantitative morphometry of freeze-dried graphene-based aerogels (GA, NGA, Gr-MWCNTs) and carbon foam (CF, CF-GA) monoliths, prepared by hydrothermal and organic sol-gel, respectively. X-ray micro-computed tomography (XMCT), in combination with SEM, allowed to visualize of internal microstructure in 3D space and the reconstructed volume renderings from 2D sliced images revealed hierarchical structures (interlaced thin sheets, honeycomb organization) and topological (interconnected pores background) domains. The influence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) additions to graphene-like sheets and integration with carbon foam (CF) are assessed through volume-weighted pore size, wall thickness, and porosity levels, in compliance with physical properties. Composite porous solids elucidated crosslinking reinforced by a homogeneous distribution of CNTs into graphene aerogel (GA) and CF matrices. A consistent trend of NGA (and GA)>CF>Gr-MWCNT<sub>2:1</sub>>CF-GA>Gr-MWCNT<sub>3:1</sub>>Gr-MWCNT<sub>5:1 </sub>was found from XMCT image processing and analyses significantly corroborate stability. These results provided insights and guide the design of porous carbonaceous materials for energy sciences and environmental engineering.