Preparation of activated carbon fabrics from cotton fabric precursor

Abstract

The preparation of activated carbon fabrics (ACFs) from cotton fabric was performed by chemical activation with phosphoric acid (H3PO4). The operation conditions for obtaining the ACFs with the highest the adsorption capacity and process yield, proposed. Optimized conditions were: impregnation ratio of 2, the rate of temperature rising of 7.5 °C min-1, the activation temperature of 500 °C and the activation time of 30 min. The ACFs produced under optimized conditions was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The surface area and pore volume of carbon nanostructures was characterized by BET nitrogen adsorption isotherm at 77 °K. The pore size distribution calculated from the desorption branch according to BJH method. The iodine number of the prepared ACFs was determined by titration at 30 °C based on the ASTM D4607-94. The results showed the improvement of porous structure, fabric shape, surface area (690 m2/g), total pore volume (0.3216 cm3/g), and well-preserved fibers integrity.