Textural characterisation of graphite matrices using electrochemical methods

The present work describes a novel approach for the textural characterisation of a carbonaceous porous medium. Due to the electronic conduction properties of expanded natural graphite (ENG), electrochemical determination was proposed and the use of cyclic voltammetry enables determination of the surface area and porous volume of ENG. First, experiments were performed without the electrochemical electron transfer reaction. Then, the volume of the entire transformation of potassium hexacyanoferrate into the pores of the material was deduced by applying the rules of thin-layer electrochemistry. For the specific surface area and the porosity, the results are satisfying, but in comparison with classical methods, the electrochemical procedure does not allow the determination of the pore size distribution of the material. It is possible to evaluate the mean pore diameter and to assume that the double-layer capacitance may depend on the kind of graphite surface (basal or edge plane). (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.