It has been known since the beginning of the
century that activated carbon is electrically conductive
and possesses the electrical properties of a
semiconductor. 1 Applications utilizing the electrical
properties of activated carbon have been limited due to
the non-contiguous nature of granular activated carbon
products. Activated Carbon Cloth (ACC) provides a
contiguous carbon form that is ideally suited for use in
electrical applications. Studies have shown that ACC
exhibits good electrical storage capacity; can be
effectively heated using resistance heating; exhibits
extremely fast heat-up and cool-down rates; can be
maintained at any steady state temperature with good
temperature uniformity; and shows no electrical
degradation over thousands of heating and cooling
cycles. In tests with adsorbed species, electrically
heated ACC was shown to rapidly remove nearly all
adsorbed species. These unique properties of ACC are
leading to a variety of novel applications related to the
electrically conductive nature of this material.
samples (called FM1-250 and FM5-250) differ only in
terms of the thickness of the weave of the fabric.
FM5-250 possesses a thicker weave pattern than FM1-
250, approximately a factor of two difference in the
density of the materials. Both fabrics utilize the same
cloth fibers. All carbon cloth samples were assembled
by attaching metal electrical leads to opposite ends of
the samples. The cloth samples were secured to a
frame that held the samples about four inches above
the laboratory bench. A standard voltmeter was used
to measure voltage, resistance and current. For
resistive heating experiments, an alternating current
rheostat power supply or temperature controller was
used to apply voltage to the samples. Temperatures
were measured using an infrared thermometer and/or
surface thermocouples.