Preparation, characterization and study of morphology of activated carbon fibers

Abstract

Utilizando fibras de kenaf larga, se ha llevado a cabo la preparación, caracterización y estudio morfológico de las fibras de carbón activado (ACFs). La caracterización era realizada mediante las isotermas de adsorción de N2 a -196 C, porosimetría de Hg y microscopia electrónica de barrido. La activación a 700 ºC con CO2 durante 2h (FBC4A72) y 4 h (FBC4A74) de la muestra carbonizada a 400 ºC durante 0.5 h en N2 (FBC4), mostraban un incremento en el tamaño del poro, como se observa en las microscopías electrónica de barrido. Esto es probablemente debido a la interconexión de los poros como consecuencia del incremento del tiempo de tratamiento de 2 a 4h. Estos resultados abren un amplio campo de aplicación para las fibras de kenaf.

Using kenaf as starting material, a study about the preparation and characterization of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) from long fibers was carried out. The carbonization products of kenaf fibers and ACFs were texturally characterized by N2 adsorption at -196 ºC, mercury porosimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. The activation of the raw material of Kenaf by its carbonization at 400 ºC for 0.5 h in a N2 atmosphere increase the porosity of the samples, particularly the activation at 700 ºC with carbon dioxide. It should be noted the porous development shown by the scanning electron micrographs of samples FBC4A72 and FBC4A74. It is observed that the variation of treatment time from 2 to 4 hours leads to an important development of the porous structure in samples FBC4A74, which is probably a consequence of an interconnection between pores. These results open a wide field of applications of these fibers.