Charge transfer and weak chemisorption of oxygen molecules in nanoporous carbon consisting of a disordered network of nanographene sheets.

The adsorption/desorption processes of oxygen are investigated in nanoporous carbon (activated carbon fiber (ACF)) consisting of a disordered network of nanographene sheets. The heat-induced desorption at 200 °C shows the decomposition of oxygen-including functional groups weakly bonded to nanographene edges. The removal of these oxygen-including negatively charged functional groups brings about a change in the type of majority carriers, from holes to electrons, through charge transfer from the functional groups to the interior of nanographene sheets. The oxygen adsorption brings ACF back to the electronic state with holes being majority carriers. In this process, a large concentration of negatively charged O(2)(δ-) molecules with δ ∼ 0.1 are created through charge transfer from nanographene sheets to the adsorbed oxygen molecules. The changes in the thermoelectric power and the electrical resistance in the oxygen desorption process is steeper than that in the oxygen adsorption process. This suggests the irreversibility between the two processes.