Abstract
In this study, using waste materials such as hard almond bark and palm kernels, the porous activated carbon has been synthesized by chemical activation method with activation agents of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium chloride (NaCl), and phosphoric acid (H3PO4). Then, the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the synthesized activated carbons were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The XRD patterns showed that an activated carbon structure was formed in all the samples synthesized with chemical activators. The SEM and TEM images showed that there is no porosity and pitted for raw and primary carbon samples of hard almond bark and palm kernels, but for activated carbon by various activating agents, it was clearly porous structure in the activated samples. Also, in the FTIR spectra of activated carbon, it was confirmed that there are carbon single and double bonds for in all samples. The measurement of the optical absorption coefficient (α) and optical band gap (Eg) of porous carbon nanostructures showed that α is in order of 106–107 cm−1 and energy gap is in range of 1.98–2.83 eV. The activated carbon sample synthesized from almond bark with H3PO4 activator has highest energy gap (Eg = 2.83 eV) and NaCl activator has lowest energy gap (Eg = 1.98 eV).
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by M. M. Bagheri-Mohagheghi, and S.K. Shahcheragh. The first draft of the manuscript was written by A. Shirpay and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Shahcheragh, S.K., Bagheri Mohagheghi, M.M. & Shirpay, A. Study of structural, optical properties and energy band gap of porous activated carbon nanostructures: investigation of the effect of chemical activation agents. Opt Quant Electron 55, 1256 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-05556-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-05556-4