Preparation, Characterization And Application Of Activated Carbon Microspheres

Activated carbons (AC) are known as green and environment-friendly material due to their large surface area, highly developed porosity, variable characteristics of surface chemistry, and high degree of surface absorbability. These unique characteristics make AC very versatile materials, which have been applied in the food, pharmaceuticals, energy storage, environmental protection, industrial and agricultural production, military, and so on. An activated carbon microsphere is a new carbon material with uniform size, wonderful modification, and high surface area and so on. Up till the present moment, there have been few reports on the preparation and application of carbon microspheres, In this paper, activated carbon microspheres were obtained and via hydrothermal synthesis and carbonization at high temperature. Study its application in the electrochemical double-layer capacitor, chemically modified electrodes and cigarette filter tip.(1) Activated carbon microspheres were obtained using (3-cyclodextrin as the raw materials via hydrothermal synthesis and carbonization at high temperature. Then the product was activated by ethanol and ammonium bicarbonate at low temperature in the closed system, respectively. The property of the activated carbon microspheres was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical measurement. The result showed that all the activated carbon microspheres materials are amorphous structure; after activation, the surfaces become rough, specific surface area and pore volume were increased significantly. As electrode materials of supercapacitors, it shows perfect electrochemical properties. Specific capacitance of carbon microspheres which activated by ammonium bicarbonate is 233 F/g; it has a more satisfactory electric double-layer capacitance performance than other materials.(2) Activated carbon microspheres were obtained using glucose as the raw materials via hydrothermal synthesis and carbonization at high temperature. The activated carbon microspheres was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Nitrogen adsorption-desorption and distribution of pore size. The activated carbon microspheres was used as the additives packed into cigarettes'filter to reduced the harmful substances in the mainstream smoke. It was found that these low molecular weight aldehydes and ketones decreased significantly, especially crotonaldehyde.(3) This study described the bielectrochemistry of hemoglobin (Hb) immobilized on GCE electrode modified by activated carbon microspheres. The characteristics of Hb/ACMs/GCE electrode were studied by using electrochemical methods. Hb in the modified electrode shows perfect electrochemical behaviors. The results showed that hemoglobin in activated carbon microspheres film still maintain its biological activity, while promoting the electron transfer between the hemoglobin and the electrode. The modified electrode can catalytic the reduction of H2O2, The results showed that there was a linear relationship between the current and the H2O2 concentration in the range of 2.88～26.56μM, and the detection limit was 0.36μM. In addition, this sensor has good reproducibility and stability.