中间相炭微球（MCMB）超细粉末（0.1～0.5μm），具有良好的自粘结性，经模压成型和1000℃自烧结后，可制备出弯曲强度达到134.3MPa的高密度各向同性炭材料（HDIC）。用热分析和扫描电镜等方法，探讨了此超细粉末的特性和模压工艺对坯体成型和烧结体性能的影响。实验证明，由于MCMB超细颗粒表面附着的大量小分子相互结合而形成强度较高的团聚体，使粉末颗粒难以均匀分散，严重影响着材料弯曲强度。研磨可破坏团聚体中颗粒的粘结，减少材料的烧结缺陷，提高材料性能。MCMB超细粉末表面能及粉末之间的内摩擦较大，流动性差，模压成型时采取适宜的压制力，尤其是延长压力作用时间，对材料获得理想的显微结构，缓解由压坯密度的不均匀分布、弹性后效等而导致的缺陷是非常重要的。

Mesophase spheres were prepared through homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation from two coal tar pitches with some and nearly without quinoline insolubles. The pitches suffered thermal condensation in a stainless steel reactor at 440 and 410℃ for 1 or 7h, respectively. SEM was introduced as a useful tool to detect the structures of the two kinds of mesophase spheres. As a result of the paper, it was found that the structure of mesophase spheres prepared through homogeneous nucleation was Brooks-Taylor type, which is consistent with the analysis result of optical microscopy. Whereas, the structures of the heterogeneous nucleation mesophase spheres were complex, which were parallel in parts of the structure.

In a study of the preparation of Pt/C eletrocatalysts, a set of modified Vulcan XC-72 carbon black supports have been prepared by nitric acid or hydrogen peroxide oxidation, or thermal treatment in nitrogen flow. The supports obtained by these methods had largely identical pore structure, but different from the amount of surface oxygen-containing groups. The physical and surface chemical nature of the supports was characterized by XPS, BET, FTIR, and acid-base titration. The above pre-treatment-carbon supported Pt/C electrocatalysts were prepared by the impregnation-reduction method with formaldehyde as the reducing agent, H2PtCl6 as precursor. The effect of the amount of surface oxygen-containing groups of Vulcan XC-72 carbon black on the Pt/C catalysts dispersion was studied by the characterization with XRD and TEM. It was discovered that decreasing the amount of surface oxygen-containing groups on carbon supports favored the dispersion of platinum on the Pt/C catalysts.

Carbonaceous mesophase is an excellent precursor for preparing high performance carbon materials. The structure of carbonaceous mesophase could be affected by the raw material and the condensation conditions. In the present work, the influence of inorganic impurities in coal tar pitch on the structures of the mesophase formed was investigated by adding some inorganic materials, such as nano-scale silicon dioxide and micron-scale alumina. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the morphology and cross-sectional texture of the mesophase spheres. It was found that inorganic impurities would influence the structure of the mesophase and the size of inorganic materials was a key factor for affecting the final structure of the mesophase. The microtexture of the MCMB formed in the coal tar pitch without inorganic impurities tends to be global type. Nano-scale silicon dioxide changed the forming mode of MCMB from homogeneous nucleation to heterogeneous nucleation and the MCMB formed was built up with small spheres with the size of less than 3.5μm. Micron-scale alumina particles could not change the mode of nucleation of MCMB but were enwrapped in the MCMB and distorted the microtexture layers of MCMB.