Daulbayev, Chingis, et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2021, 38, 9-20.
The potential applications of pitch-derived carbon fibers (CFs) in a variety of fields have been studied and developed. Based on their properties, CFs can be divided into two categories: general-performance CFs (obtained from isotropic pitch) and high-performance CFs (obtained from anisotropic and mesophase pitches). Their main practical applications include:
· Energy storage: CFs have attracted great interest in the design and construction of supercapacitors, batteries, and optoelectronic devices due to their excellent electrical conductivity and high specific surface area. For example, carbon fibers based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/pitch/lignin with ZnO (PPL-Zn) have been used to develop high-efficiency supercapacitors, in which pitch is used as a precursor for CFs.
· Adsorption of VOCs: CFs can also be used as effective materials for the adsorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). For example, the adsorption mechanism and structural changes of VOCs (e.g., chloroform) in the pores of pitch-based carbon fibers have been studied, and the effect of pore size on the adsorption activity of pitch-based carbon fibers has been investigated.
· Mechanical applications of asphalt-based carbon fibers: According to the mechanical properties of carbon fibers, they can be divided into ultra-high modulus, high elastic modulus, medium elastic modulus, low modulus and high tensile strength species. Studies have shown that the use of asphalt-based carbon fibers has great prospects in obtaining composite materials in the form of additives with high thermal conductivity and mechanical strength.
