PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF ACTIVATED CARBON CLOTHS: EFFECT OF INHERENT NATURE OF THE FABRIC PRECURSOR

M. E. RAMOS; P. BONELLI; A. L. CUKIERMAN

COLLOIDS AND SURFACES A-PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING ASPECTS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS; Año: 2008 vol. 324 p. 86 - 92

0927-7757

Five different cellulose-based fabrics were used to prepare activated carbon cloths (ACCs) by phosphoric acid activation at pre-established experimental conditions, in an attempt to explore the effect of the precursor’s nature on properties of the resulting ACCs. Characterization by elemental analysis, nitrogen (77K) adsorption, and scanning electron microscopy was carried out. Electrical properties of the developed ACCs were investigated to examine the possibility of regenerating the ACCs by direct electrical heating. Thermal behavior of the raw precursor and of one of the acid-treated fabrics was also studied by thermogravimetric analysis and noticeable differences due to the precursors’ characteristics and acid impregnation were detected, respectively. The ACCs derived from a denim precursor showed BET surface area (784m2/g) and total pore volume (0.40cm3/g ) lower than those obtained from the four other precursors (1058–1183m2/g, 0.55–0.67 cm3/g), whereas carbon content and yield for the formerwere higher. Morphology and physical appearance of the ACCs were dependent on the raw fabric employed, with most of the samples presenting well-preserved fibres integrity. Besides, the denim-derived ACCs also showed the lowest electrical resistivity (0.008 Ohm  m). It was properly correlated with the elemental carbon content and total pore volume of the developed ACCs.