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On the Application of Various Methods to Evaluate the Microporous Properties of Activated Carbons

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Abstract

Three methods, the Horvath-Kawazoe (HK) method, the Jaroniec-Gadkare-Choma (JGC) one and the Density Functional Theory (DFT), have been applied in the characterization of the microporous structure of several activated carbons. The samples were all based on the same parent material, that was subjected to various oxidative treatments, using solutions of concentrated HNO3 at various temperatures (298, 333, 363 and reflux at 383 K during 3 hours) or solutions of H2O2 of various concentrations (1, 5 and 10 M). The nitrogen adsorption isotherms of the solids, were studied at 77 K and in the relative pressure range of 10−6 < p/p 0 < 0.99. Only the isotherm parts up to a relative pressure of 0.2 were taken into consideration for obtaining the micropore size distributions. The evaluation of the method suitability was based on how well each one describes the experimentally obtained data. The three methods describe satisfactorily the experimental results, including the transitions of the isotherms related to the stages of micropore filling. The effects of the oxidative treatment on the structure of the solids, as judged from their micropore size distributions, are also discussed.

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    S.A. Korili

  2. 31006 Pamplona, Spain

    A. Gil

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Korili, S., Gil, A. On the Application of Various Methods to Evaluate the Microporous Properties of Activated Carbons. Adsorption 7, 249–264 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012788902353

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