Water vapor adsorption in activated carbon modified with hydrophilic organic salts

Abstract

Five different kinds of hydrophilic organic salts were used to modify commercial activated carbon in order to prepare hydrophilic carbon materials. Properties of the samples were analyzed by surface area analyzer and SEM-EDX. The hydrophilic organic salts with different properties were introduced into activated carbon and significantly affected the properties of the samples. During adsorption experiments, the water vapor adsorption amount in modified samples increases by 0.57–17.12 times in temperature range from 303 to 323 K and at relative pressure below 0.50. Water molecules combined with surface hydrophilic groups through H-bonding exhibit good thermo stability. The effects of temperature, oxygen content and properties of the hydrophilic organic salts on water vapor adsorption were studied. It is indicated that water vapor adsorption in modified samples is mainly affected by the surface oxygen content. The carboxylate radicals in the hydrophilic organic salts greatly affect the micropore structure of the modified samples, while the metal ions in them exhibit limited influence. Different adsorption capacity of modified samples can be explained with the electronegativity of elements presented by Pauling.

Keywords

water vapor / adsorption / activated carbon / modification / hydrophilic organic salts

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