Nanostructured composites based on porous carbon matrices filled with nickel hydroxide crystallites

High-purity, nanostructured, morphologically uniform hydroxide-carbon composites filled with anhydrous Ni(OH)(2) nanocrystallites (up to 40 wt %) and having a large specific surface area (600-1300 m(2)/g) and high porosity (0.4-1.6 cm(3)/g) have been produced through nickel hydroxide precipitation from an aqueous chloride solution in an alkaline medium onto the surface of two types of highly porous carbon matrices differing in pore structure, synthesized via high-temperature carbonization of naturally oxidized coal or hydroquinone furfural mixtures. Using a number of physical characterization techniques, we have shown that the formation of the composites proceeds predominantly through the precipitation of platelike brucite-structure crystallites on the surface of mesopores in the matrix and also as a result of pore blockage (plugging), whose realization (contribution) depends on pore size: most micropores remain empty. Increasing the hydroxide content leads to characteristic changes in pore size distribution.