Deformation of porous carbons upon adsorption

N2 and CO2 sorption measurements with in situ dilatometry implemented in a commercial volumetric sorption instrument were performed at 77 and 273 K, respectively. The resolution of the linear deformation was about ±0.2 μm. To separate effects due to microporosity, external surface area and mesopores synthetic porous carbons (xerogels) with different external surface areas and microporosities were applied as a model system. The experimental data show that the relative length change of the monolithic carbon xerogels investigated passes different stages during ad- and desorption, which are connected to micropore-, multilayer- and mesopore-sorption. The length change observed in the range of micropore and surface adsorption was found to be nonmonotonic and to take negative as well as positive values, with the maximum swelling observed being on the order of 4‰. With respect to the length change, the micropore structure seems to have the most significant impact on the overall length change, while the external surface is only of minor importance. Quantiative analysis of the deformation according to the models of Bangham and Scherer for the length change in the range of multilayer- and mesopore-adsorption allows extracting the macrosopic as well as the skeletal Young's modulus.