Abstract
We report results from experiments where we characterize the surface properties of soot particles
interacting with high-pressure methane. We find considerable differences in behavior of the soot material
between static and dynamic pressure conditions that can be explained by multiscale correlations in the
dynamics, from the micro to macro of the porous fractal-like carbon matrix. The measurements were
possible utilizing cold neutron imaging of methane mixed with combustion generated carbon (soot) inside
steel cells. The studies were performed under static and dynamic pressure conditions in the range 10-90
bar, and are of interest for applications of energy storage of hydrogenous fuels. The very high cross
sections for neutrons compared to hard X-ray photons, enabled us to find considerable amounts of native
hydrogen in the soot and to see and quantify the presence of hydrogen atoms in the carbon soot matrix
under different pressure conditions. This work lays the base for more detailed in-situ investigations on the
interaction of porous carbon materials with hydrogen in practical environments for hydrogen and methane
storage.
