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Ionic liquids are well known for their high gas absorption capacity. It is shown that this is not a solvent constant, but can be enhanced by another factor of 10 by pore confinement, here of the ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EmimOAc) in the pores of carbon materials. A matrix of four different carbon compounds with micro- and mesopores as well as with and without nitrogen doping is utilized to investigate the influence of the carbons structure on the nitrogen uptake in the pore-confined EmimOAc. In general, the absorption is most improved for IL in micropores and in nitrogen-doped carbon. This effect is so large that it is already seen in TGA and DSC experiments. Due to the low vapor pressure of the IL, standard volumetric sorption experiments can be used to quantify details of this effect. It is reasoned that it is the change of the molecular arrangement of the ions in the restricted space of the pores that creates additional free volume to host molecular nitrogen.
Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized battery technology. However, the scarcity of lithium in nature is driving the search for alternatives. For that reason, sodium-ion batteries have attracted increasing attention in recent years. The main obstacle to their development is the anode as, unlike for lithium-ion batteries, graphite cannot be used due to the inability to form stoichiometrically useful intercalation compounds with sodium. A promising candidate for sodium storage is hard carbon a form of nongraphitisable carbon, that can be synthesized from various precursor materials. Processing of hard carbons is often done by using mechanochemical treatments. Although it is generally accepted and often observed that they can influence the porosity of hard carbons, their effect on battery performance not well understood. Here, the changes in porosity occurring during ball milling are elucidated and related to the properties of hard carbons in sodium storage. Analysis by combined gas physisorption and small angle X-ray scattering shows that porosity changes during ball milling with a significant increase of the open porosity, unsuitable for reversible sodium storage, and decrease of the closed porosity, suitable for reversible sodium storage. While pristine hard carbon can store 58.5 mAh g(-1) in the closed pores, upon 5 h of mechanical treatment in a ball mill it can only store 35.5 mAh g(-1). The obtained results are furthermore pointing towards the disputed "intercalation-adsorption" mechanism.