Oxidized BPL Carbons

Abstract

A series of oxidized carbons has been prepared by treatment of the carbon with concentrated nitric acid at various temperatures, and the surface and adsorption properties of the prepared carbons studied. Water adsorption was modelled using a recently derived equation capable of predicting a value for the primary adsorption sites on the surface of a microporous carbon while fitting the experimentally determined isotherm at high relative pressures. The concentration of primary sites was seen to increase with increasing temperature of oxidation. The very highly oxidized carbon samples were found to have a significantly lower BET surface area determined from nitrogen desorption at 77 K and higher apparent density measured from mercury displacement.