• Carbon letters
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.21-23
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• 2003

In this work, the effect of anodic oxidation treatment on Cr(VI) ion adsorption behaviors of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) was investigated. The aqueous solutions of 10 wt% $H_3PO_4$ and $NH_4OH$ were used for acidic and basic electrolytes, respectively. Surface characteristics and textural properties of ACFs were determined by XPS and $N_2$ adsorption at 77 K. The heavy metal adsorption of ACFs was conducted by ICP. As a result, the adsorption amount of the anodized ACFs was improved in order of B-ACFs > A-ACFs > pristine-ACFs. In case of the anodized treated ACFs, the specific surface area was decreased due to the pore blocking or pore destroying by acidic electrolyte. However, the anodic oxidation led to an increase of the Cr(VI) adsorption, which can be attributed to an increase of oxygen-containing functional groups, such as, carboxylic, lactonic, and phenolic groups. It was clearly found that the Cr(VI) adsorption was largely influenced by the surface functional groups, in spite of the reduced specific surface area of the ACFs.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.61-72
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• 2014

The aim of this study is to define the condition of optimal pre-treatment for preferable activated carbon fibers (ACFs), which are based on rayon fibers. This paper shows the ideal path of ACFs preparation process; implies that rayon fibers are pre-treated by various solvents with different times before the heating process. The pre-treated rayon fibers finally turned into desirable rayon fiber-based ACFs through optimal pre-treatment condition by heating processes. The thermal analysis method of pre-treated rayon fibers by thermo-gravimetry analyser (TGA) is an idealized tool, which analyzes the best thermal condition of pre-treatment process. Surface morphologies of resulting rayon fibers based ACFs were examined by scanning electron microscope(SEM). The results of TGA and SEM analyses show that the optimal pre-treatment condition for preparing ACFs was clearly defined, in terms of thermal stability and surface morphology.

• Carbon letters
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.44-47
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• 2011

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were prepared from cost effective commercial textiles through stabilization, carbonization, and subsequently activation by carbon dioxide. ACFs were characterized for surface area and pore size distribution by physical adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K. ACFs were also examined for various surface characteristics by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and CHNO elemental analyzer. The prepared ACFs exhibited good surface textural properties with well developed micro porous structure. With improvement in physical strength, the commercial textile grade acrylic precursor based ACFs developed in this study may have great utility as cost effective adsorbents in environmental remediation applications.

• Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering
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• 제35권12호
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• pp.2468-2473
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• 2018

Nitrogen-doped activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were prepared by chemical vapor deposition using melamine powder and acetonitrile for introducing quaternary nitrogen on the commercial ACFs, subsequently heated at $950^{\circ}C$ and activated by steam. Adsorption experiments of nitrate in aqueous solution were also conducted to evaluate adsorption capacity of the prepared ACFs using ion chromatography. The amount of introduced nitrogen content and nitrogen species on activated carbon fibers was examined by CHN elemental analyzer and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. As a result, adsorption capacity of quaternary nitrogen-doped ACF (ST-ML-AN-ST) was 0.75 mmol/g, indicating ca. two-times higher than that of untreated ACF (0.38 mmol/g). According to the adsorption data, the Langmuir isotherm model was the best fit. The prepared samples were also regenerated using hydrochloric acid. After regeneration, the adsorption capacity of the nitrogen-doped ACF (ST-ML-AN-ST) showed ca. 80% on average, implying that a portion of nitrates was adsorbed on the prepared ACFs irreversibly.

• Carbon letters
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.51-54
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• 2004

Isotropic pitch-based carbon fiber was isothermally activated in $CO_2$ atmosphere. Structural parameters of the isotropic carbon fibers and activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The $d_{002}$ and La of the carbon fibers were measured to be 4.04 ${\AA}$ and 23.6 ${\AA}$ and those of ACFs were 4.29 ${\AA}$ and 22.7 ${\AA}$, respectively, representing less ordered through activation process. The pores in the ACFs were characterized by BET, and they showed super-high specific surface area of maximum value 3,495 $m^2/g$ from average pore size of 8.3 ${\AA}$ at 59% burn-off. It was recognized that 8-9 ${\AA}$ was optimum range of pore size for efficient creation of high specific surface area. The average size of the pores formed at higher temperature ($1100^{\circ}C$) was larger than that of the pores formed at lower temperature ($900^{\circ}C$).

• Carbon letters
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.103-107
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• 2004

The atmospheric pressure plasma treatments ($Ar/O_2$ and $Ar/N_2$) of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were carried out to introduce hydrophilic functional groups on carbon surfaces in order to enhance the hydrogen chloride gas (HCl) adsorption. Surface properties of the ACFs were determined by XPS and SEM. $N_2$/77 K adsorption isotherms were investigated by BET and D-R (Dubinin-Radushkevich) plot methods. The HCl removal efficiency was confirmed by HCl detecting tubes (range:1~40 or 40~1000 ppm). As experimental results, it was found that all plasma-treated ACFs showed the decrease in the pore volume, but the HCl removal efficiency showed higher level than that of the untreated ACFs. This result indicated that the plasma treatments led to the conformation of hydrophilic functional groups on the carbon surfaces, resulting in the increase of the interaction between the ACFs and HCl gas.

• Carbon letters
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• 제4권3호
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• pp.140-145
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• 2003

Antibacterial behaviors of PAN-based activated carbon fibers (ACFs) containing silver metal were investigated. The effects of surface and pore structures of the ACFs were studied by $N_2$/77 K adsorption and D-R plot as a function of silver loading content. The antibacterial activities were investigated by a dilution test against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus; gram positive) and Klebsiella pnemoniae (K. pnumoniae; gram negative). As experimental results, the ACFs showed some decreases in specific surface areas, micropore volumes, and total pore volume with an increase of silver content. However, the antibacterial activities of the ACFs were strongly increased against S. aureus as well as K. pnumoniae, which could be attributed to the presence of antibacterial metal in the ACFs system.

• Carbon letters
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• 제4권4호
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• pp.168-174
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• 2003

Silver nitrate ($AgNO_3$) powder was mixed into a reformed pitch precursor. Then, the silver-containing pitch was melt spun to form round and "C" shape fibers. A wire mesh was inserted prior to the nozzle to improve the spinnability of the silvercontaining precursor pitch. Silver particles in the carbon fibers (CFs) were detected by XRD and TEM. These tests showed that silver particles were uniformly distributed and the total amount of silver remained constant during stabilization and carbonization. Next, the silver-containing CFs were activated by steam diluted in nitrogen gas. Silver particles accelerated the activation rate, but the specific surface areas of the silver-containing ACFs were similar to those of non-silver containing ACFs at the same burn-off levels. The specific surface area of the C-shaped activated carbon fibers was larger than that of the round activated carbon fibers. The likely reason is that the surface area of a C-shaped CF is about two times larger than that of a round CF when equivalent cross-sectional areas are compared. A small amount of silver particles in the periphery of the CFs was removed during the activation, but the remainder of silver was stayed within the ACFs.

• Composites Research
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• 제36권6호
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• pp.402-407
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• 2023

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) are fibrous form of activated carbon (AC) with higher mechanical strength and flexibility, which make them suitable for building modules for applications including directional gas flow such as air and gas purification. Similarly, ACFs are anticipated to excel in the efficient capture of CO₂. However, due to the difficulties in fabricating monofilament carbon fibers at a laboratory scale, most of the studies regarding ACFs for CO₂ capture have relied on electrospun carbon fibers. In this study, we fabricated monofilament carbon fibers from PAN-based monofilament precursors by stabilization and carbonization. Then, ACFs were successfully prepared by chemical activation using KOH. Different weight ratios ranging from 1:1 to 1:4 were employed in the fabrication of ACFs, and the samples were designated as ACF-1 to ACF-4, respectively. As a function of KOH ratio, increase in surface area could be observed. However, the CO₂ adsorption trend did not follow the surface area trend, and the ACF-3 with second largest surface area exhibited the highest CO₂ adsorption capacity. To understand the phenomena, nitrogen content and ultramicropore distribution, which are important factors determining CO₂ adsorption capacity, were considered. As a result, while nitrogen content could not explain the phenomena, ultramicropore distribution could provide a reasoning that the excessive etching led ACF-4 to develop micropore structure with a broader distribution, resulting in high surface area yet deteriorated CO₂ adsorption.

• Carbon letters
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• 제1권2호
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• pp.82-86
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• 2000

The present research was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of water purification filter with activated carbon fibers (ACFs) using a very low cost precursor consisting of phenolic resin coated on glass fibers. The simplified procedure involving coating, curing and activation and a very low cost glass fiber as a raw material were adopted in order to reduce manufacturing cost. The breakthrough curves of the manufactured ACFs and the commercial activated carbon (AC, Calgon F-200) were investigated in the initial concentration range from 19 to 49 ppm for benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene. From breakthrough profiles, the manufactured ACFs had significantly faster adsorption kinetics than the AC. Especially the benzene breakthrough curves, the manufactured ACF (13 g of ACF with 32% of carbon on the glass) was over the limited level (5 ppb) after flowing of 32 l at initial concentration of 15 ppm, while the commercial AC was shown about 3 ppm in initial adsorption.