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Textural and functional modifications of activated carbons subjected to severe storing conditions

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Abstract

Different techniques to prepare activated carbons exist. Most of them lead to materials with interesting properties, however, as far as we know, these features have been barely evaluated over time. In this context, the evolution of the textural and surface chemistry properties over time of different activated carbons is evaluated. For this purpose, six commercial and a homemade synthetized activated carbons with different characteristics were put in a climatic chamber for 22 months under constant conditions of temperature and relative humidity (T = 40 °C, RH = 80%). The samples were characterized at different periods of time by means of N2, CO2 and H2O adsorption measurements and by thermogravimetric analysis. The results show that contrary to what can be expected, the surface chemistry was not the only property that has undergone modifications but also the porous properties, and for some samples the latter was even very important. These changes were observed for all samples; however some of them are more affected like metal impregnated carbon and activated carbon fibers, whereas others seem to be more resistant to ageing such as chemically activated carbons.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Department of Construction Engineering and Materials of the Royal Military Academy for the SEM and EDX analysis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Royal Military Academy, Avenue de la Renaissance 30, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Yasmine Boutillara, Leticia F. Velasco & Peter Lodewyckx

  2. Thermodynamics Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mons, 20 Place du Parc, 7000, Mons, Belgium

    Yasmine Boutillara & Guy De Weireld

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  1. Yasmine Boutillara
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  2. Leticia F. Velasco
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  3. Peter Lodewyckx
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  4. Guy De Weireld
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Correspondence to Yasmine Boutillara.

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Boutillara, Y., Velasco, L.F., Lodewyckx, P. et al. Textural and functional modifications of activated carbons subjected to severe storing conditions. Adsorption 24, 601–612 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-018-9979-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-018-9979-5

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