Local structure of saccharose- and anthracene-based carbons studied by wide-angle high-energy X-ray scattering

A series of porous carbon materials, produced by pyrolysis of saccharose and anthracene and heat treated at 1000, 1900 and 2300 degreesC have been studied by wide-angle X-ray scattering. The X-ray data were collected at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble on the ID15Angstrom beam line (high-energy X-ray diffraction) using a wavelength of E = 116.2 keV, lambda = 0.1067 Angstrom. The data were recorded in the scattering vector range from 0.5 to 24 Angstrom(-1) which enabled them be converted to a real-space representation via the Fourier transform. The structure of these carbons has been described in terms of a model based on disordered, graphite-like layers with very weak interlayer correlations. At higher temperatures the anthracene-based carbon transforms into graphite while the carbon produced from saccharose remains disordered. The graphitization process has been studied in detail by careful analysis of the diffraction data in real and reciprocal space. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.