Abstract
The effect of chemical activators on the properties of activated carbon from sago waste was conducted in this study by using ZnCl2, H3PO4, KOH, and KMnO4 chemical solutions. The carbonized sago waste was added to each chemical solution, boiled at 85 °C for 4 h, and heated at 600 °C for 3 h. The porosity, microstructural, proximate, and surface chemistry analyses were carried out using nitrogen adsorption with employing the Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) method and the Barret-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) calculation, scanning electron microscopy by using energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer, simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis system, and the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the activated carbon prepared using ZnCl2 acid had the highest specific surface area of 546.61 m2/g, while the KOH activating agent surpassed other chemicals in terms of a refined structure and morphology, with the lowest ash content of 10.90%. The surface chemistry study revealed that ZnCl2 and KOH activated carbon showed phenol and carboxylate groups. Hence, ZnCl2 acid was suggested as activating agents for micropore carbon, while KOH was favorable to producing a mesopore-activated carbon from sago waste.
Highlights
It revealed that the mesopore volume (VMes. ) of activated carbon prepared with base treatment (45.7% and 37.7%) was higher than those treated with acid (33.3% and 25.2%). These results prove that the carbon with acid treatment contracts microporosity, while those with base treatment show mesoporosity behavior
The morphology images showed that ash was dominant over pores, and the carbon prepared from the KMnO4 activating agents had no peak in the X-ray diffraction pattern
This study demonstrates the effect of chemical activating agents on the activated carbon from sago waste
Summary
Activated carbon has an amorphous, fullerene-like structure, with a large and small amount of oxygen and hydrogen, respectively [1]. This structure leads to an increase in its surface area, a high degree of porosity [2,3], and a wide spectrum of oxygenated functional groups [4,5]. Activated carbon has attracted attention due to its large application and environmental benefits. The use of activated carbons as materials for electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLC) has made them suitable for industrial applications [19,20,21]
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