This study involved the heterogenization of a binder pitch (BP) using a small amount of nanocarbon to improve physical properties of the resulting graphite electrode (GE). Heterogenization was carried out by adding 0.5–2.0 wt.% platelet carbon nanofiber (PCNF) or carbon black (CB) to a commercial BP. To evaluate the physical properties of the BPs, we designed a new model graphite electrode (MGE) using needle coke as a filler. The heterogenized binder pitch (HBP) with PCNF or CB clearly increased the coking value by 5–13 wt.% compared to that of the as-received BP. Especially, the model graphite electrodes prepared with HBPs containing 1.0 wt.% PCNF or CB showed significantly improved physical properties compared to the control MGE from the as-received BP. Although the model graphite electrodes prepared with HBPs showed similar properties, they had smaller pore sizes than the control. This indicates that heterogenization of the BP can effectively decrease the pore size in the MGE matrix. Correlating the average pore sizes with the physical properties of the model graphite electrodes showed that, for the same porosity, matrices formed by the HBP with a smaller average pore size can effectively improve the apparent density, tensile strength, and oxidation resistance of the model graphite electrodes.

Mesophase pitch is a unique graphitizable material that has been used as an important precursor for highly graphitic carbon materials. In the current study, we propose to consider a spinnable mesophase pitch as a lyotropic liquid crystalline solution composed of solvent components and liquid crystalline components, so-called mesogen or mesogenic components. Among mesophase pitches, the supermesophase pitch is defined as a mesohpase pitch with 100% anisotropy, and can only be observed in pitches with a proportion of mesogenic components exceeding the threshold concentration (TC). We also examined the critical limit of AR synthetic pitch and 5 experimental spinnable mesophase pitches (SMPs). Then, we examined the effect of the solvent component on the minimum required amount of mesogenic component using a selected solvent component instead of their own solvent components. AR pitch showed 100% anisotropy with the least amount of its mesogenic component, THF insoluble components, of 60 wt.%. The solvent component, THF soluble components, extracted from AR-pitch, which has a molecular weight pattern similar to that of the original material but more amount of naphthenic alkyl chains, showed better solvent functionality than those of other THF solubles (THFSs) from other as-prepared spinnable mesophase pitches. This is why a lower amount of AR THFS can produce a supermesophase pitch when combined with the THFI (mesogenic components) of other experimental mesophase pitches. As a result of the current analysis, we define the mesogens as molecules that not only readily stack, but also maintain stacking structures in a fused state in the solution. The solvent component, on the other hand, is defined as molecules with a structure that readily decomposes in a fused state in the solution.