Hydrothermal Carbon Coating of an Activated Carbon—A New Adsorbent

Abstract

A new adsorbent material was prepared by coating an activated carbon with hydrothermal carbon obtained from sucrose. The material obtained has different properties from the sum of the properties of the activated carbon and the hydrothermal carbon, which shows that a new material was obtained. It has a high specific surface area (1051.9 m2 g−1) and is slightly more acidic than the starting activated carbon (p.z.c.-point of zero charge 8.71 vs. 9.09). The adsorptive properties of a commercial carbon (Norit RX-3 Extra) were improved over a wide pH and temperature range. The capacity values of the monolayer according to Langmuir’s model reached 588 mg g−1 for the commercial product and 769 mg g−1 for the new adsorbent.