NO adsorption and temperature programmed desorption on K₂CO₃ modified activated carbons

Abstract

Fuel cell stacks as the automotive power source can be severely poisoned by a trace amount of NO_x in atmosphere, which makes it necessary to provide clean air for fuel cell vehicles. In this work, activating commercial activated carbons with K₂CO₃ for the large enhancement of NO capture was studied. K₂CO₃ modified activated carbons (K₂CO₃ ACs) were prepared by impregnating activate carbons in K₂CO₃ solution under ultrasound treatment, followed by temperature programmed baking at 800 °C. The dynamic NO flow tests on K₂CO₃ ACs at room temperature indicated that NO adsorption capacity reached the maximum (96 mg/g) when K₂CO₃ loading was 19.5 wt%, which corresponded to a specific surface area of 1196.1 m²/g and total pore volume of 0.70 cm³/g. The ten-fold enhancement of NO adsorption on K₂CO₃ ACs compared to the unimpregnated activated carbon was mainly attributed to the formation of potassium nitrite, which was confirmed by FTIR and temperature programmed desorption measurements. Regeneration tests of NO adsorption on the optimum sample revealed that 76% of the NO adsorption capacity could be remained after the fourth cycle.

Keywords

activated carbon / potassium carbonate / modification / NO adsorption / temperature programmed desorption

References

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