Surface Of Activated Carbon Fibers Research Articles

Surface properties of activated carbon fibers obtained from polyacrylonitrile and methyl acrylate: Experimental and simulation studies for lead and acid blue 25 dye adsorption from water

Activated carbon fibers were prepared using a methyl acrylate/polyacrylonitrile (MA/PAN) system and H3PO4 activation. These fibers were assessed to adsorb AB25 and Pb2+ from aqueous solutions, and DFT calculations were carried out to determine the main surface interactions that caused the removal of both pollutants. The results showed that AB25 and Pb2+ adsorption on these activated carbon fibers was endothermic, with maximum experimental adsorption capacities of 0.012 − 0.023 and 0.248 − 0.306 mmol/g at 20 – 40 °C. Pb2+ adsorption properties of these fibers outperformed those of other carbonaceous materials utilized in the depollution of metallic cations, whereas their removal effectiveness was less competitive to separate AB25 dye molecules. A double-site monolayer model was applied to correlate the experimental Pb2+ isotherms, while AB25 adsorption on activated carbon fibers was simulated using a one-site multilayer model. Oxygenated acidic (i.e., carboxylic and phenolic) and phosphate-carbon functional groups were the main binding sites to adsorb these pollutants. The adsorption energies of the tested systems, the identification of the most feasible binding positions of the tested adsorbates on the activated carbon fiber surface, and the role of hydrogen bonding in the corresponding adsorption mechanisms were discussed using DFT calculations. These results contribute to the valorization and application of engineered materials such as activated carbon fibers for water depollution.

Enhanced Adsorption of Gaseous Naphthalene by Activated Carbon Fibers at Elevated Temperatures.

This study utilized activated carbon fibers (ACFs) as adsorbents to investigate the removal efficiency of naphthalene and toluene at elevated temperatures and their competitive adsorption behavior. Three types of ACFs, inlet concentrations of naphthalene (343, 457, and 572 mg·Nm-3), and toluene (2055, 2877, and 4110 mg·Nm-3) were investigated to determine the adsorption capacities of naphthalene and toluene. To study the reaction mechanisms of naphthalene and toluene on the ACFs, the BET, SEM, FTIR, and TGA methods were used to examine the physical and chemical characteristics of ACFs. Results showed ACF-A's superior adsorption capacity for naphthalene that was attributed to its mesoporous structure and hydrophobicity. Adsorption equilibrium studies indicated multilayer adsorption behavior. Competitive adsorption experiments demonstrated the displacement of toluene by naphthalene on ACF-A, highlighting its higher selectivity for naphthalene. Functional group analysis revealed changes in ACF surfaces after naphthalene adsorption, suggesting π-π dispersion and electron donor-acceptor interactions. Overall, this study underscores the importance of pore structure and surface properties in designing ACFs for the efficient adsorption of high-boiling-point organic pollutants.

Activated carbon fibers from recycled acrylic and cotton for carbon dioxide capture

AbstractIn this study, activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were produced from mechanically recycled acrylic (PAN) and cotton (CO) fibers and their blend (PAN/CO) in felt form as an adsorbent for carbon dioxide capture. For this purpose, stabilization, carbonization, and chemical activation processes were applied consecutively. The effects of recycled fiber type, carbonization temperature, and activation agent impregnation ratio were investigated. The resultant ACFs were characterized by elemental analysis, SEM, FTIR, XPS, and BET analyses, and carbon dioxide adsorption capacity was tested. It was observed that the fibrous structure of all samples was preserved at all stages, although the fiber diameters were reduced. The maximum quantity of adsorbed CO2 was found to be 3.79, 3.47, and 3.28 mmol CO2/g for recycled PAN, CO, and PAN/CO based samples, respectively, at 298 K at a relative pressure of 0.989. It was conducted that the carbon dioxide adsorption performance was affected by both the ACF surface area and the nitrogen content in the structure. It was concluded that recycled fiber‐based ACFs as CO2 adsorbents could be successfully produced with reasonable adsorption performance as a sustainable alternative.Highlights Activated carbon fibers were produced from recycled acrylic and cotton fibers Fibrous structure was preserved, but fiber diameters decreased Reasonable carbon dioxide adsorption capacity was attained Recycled fiber‐based ACFs could be a sustainable alternative to CO2 adsorbents

A bimetallic PtAu-modified carbon fiber electrochemical sensor for simultaneous and highly sensitive detection of catechol and hydroquinone in environmental water.

In this study, we report the development of a novel electrochemical sensor capable of the simultaneous detection of catechol (CC) and hydroquinone (HQ) through differential pulse voltammetry. The sensor is constructed using carbon fiber (CF) that has been intricately modified with bimetallic PtAu nanoparticles. The fabrication process involves subjecting CF to ultrasound treatment in an acidic mixture, resulting in the formation of activated carbon fiber (ACF). This activation step not only enhances surface roughness but also facilitates subsequent modification, ensuring the stability of the material. Bimetallic PtAu nanoparticles are then uniformly deposited onto the ACF surface through co-deposition from a metal precursor solution. The modified ACF, adorned with bimetallic PtAu nanoparticles, exhibits excellent conductivity and efficiently catalyzes both CC and HQ in a 10 mM phosphate-buffered saline solution at pH 7.0, thereby enabling their simultaneous detection. Under optimized experimental conditions, this electrochemical sensor achieves impressive detection limits of 0.019 μM for CC and 0.28 μM for HQ within the same concentration range of 0.5-50 μM, respectively. The practicality of the sensor is further demonstrated through recovery experiments using real water samples. This electrochemical sensor, with its superior performance and versatility, shows great potential for applications in analytical chemistry and environmental monitoring.

Investigating the mechanism behind the synergistic ultraviolet photooxidation degradation of gaseous benzene through modified ACF

The effects of relative humidity were studied on the direct conversion efficiency, mineralization rate and components of waste gas from benzene photooxidation degradation. The adsorption energies, adsorption types, and molecular interaction forces of activated carbon fiber (ACF) modified with nitrogen and oxygen-containing functional groups were calculated using quantum chemical density functional theory (DFT) calculations and wave function analysis. Five polar intermediate products including acetone, acetol, hexanal, benzaldehyde, and acetophenone generated from benzene photooxidation degradation were selected as the computational object. The independent gradient model method based on Hirshfeld partition was used to study the weak interactions among the five equilibrium molecular adsorption configurations. The results demonstrated that the direct conversion efficiency of benzene increased first and then decreased with increasing relative humidity. The maximum direct conversion efficiency was 82% observed at a relative humidity of 50%. The mineralization rate decreased significantly at higher relative humidity, and the lowest value was 2%. The overall adsorption effect of nitrogen-containing functional groups on the modified ACF surface is higher than that of oxygen-containing functional groups. The functional groups with the best adsorption effect are ACF modified by pyridone, amino and carboxyl groups. Combined with electron localization function (ELF) analysis and Mayer bond-level calculation, it was found that all the modified ACF surfaces do not form chemical bonds for the equilibrium molecular adsorption configurations of the five organic compounds, which belong to physical adsorption. The adsorption of five intermediate products by modified ACF mainly depended on hydrogen bonds or van der Waals forces. The existence of hydrogen bonds greatly improved the adsorption capacity of modified ACF to organic molecules.

A novel sandwich structure ACF/CC@FeOCl as bifunctional cathode for efficient mineralization of trimethoprim in the heterogeneous electro‐Fenton process over a wide pH range

AbstractBACKGROUNDIt would be highly advantageous to develop a heterogeneous electro‐Fenton (HEF) system in which the catalyst is fixed to recycle easily and the electrode itself can produce and activate H2O2 simultaneously. In this study, a new sandwich‐like bifunctional cathode using carbon cloth (CC) loaded with FeOCl nanoparticles and activated carbon fiber (ACF) was fabricated and used in the HEF process for the degradation of antibiotic trimethoprim (TMP).RESULTSExperimental results showed that the activated carbon fiber and FeOCl‐modified carbon cloth cathode (ACF/CC@FeOCl) exhibited a promising catalytic performance to reduce O2 to generate H2O2 on the surface of ACF and activate H2O2 to generate hydroxyl radicals (•OH) at the active sites of FeOCl nanoparticles, thus enabling a rapid TMP degradation in a wide pH range (3–9). Various influencing factors, such as applied cathodic current, pH and TMP concentration, were investigated, and the optimal condition was found at 0.36 A, pH 3.0, and 100 mg L−1 TMP, where 99.7% TMP was degraded within 90 min and 74.4% total organic carbon (TOC) was removed within 360 min. Under the condition of 0.36 A and initial pH 6.8, 100 mg L−1 TMP was completely degraded within 120 min and the mineralization efficiency could achieve 61.5% within 360 min. The coumarin fluorescence probing technique and radical quenching experiments revealed that •OH was the predominant reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the ACF/CC@FeOCl‐HEF process.CONCLUSIONThe reusability and stability tests showed that the ACF/CC@FeOCl cathode has excellent performance and good stability, and this is very promising for the efficient degradation of refractory organic pollutants in the HEF process. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

Synergistic degradation of methylene blue by laser cavitation and activated carbon fiber

Methylene blue is widely used, but highly toxic and difficult to be degraded. In this paper, a new method of synergistic degradation of methylene blue by laser cavitation and activated carbon fiber is proposed. This paper theoretically studies the synergistic degradation effect, including radical oxidation effect, shock wave breakdown effect and activated carbon fiber surface adsorption effect. The deep degradation of methylene blue was studied experimentally, and the key influencing factors were analyzed. The results show that: the reason why methylene blue can be degraded is because of the oxidation effect of hydroxyl radicals, thermal decomposition and adsorption of molecules on the surface of carbon fibers. The main factors affecting the degradation rate of methylene blue solution are laser energy and initial concentration of solution. The degradation rate increased by 37.4% with the increase of laser energy (12–48 mJ) and decreased by 2.6% with the increase of initial concentration (0.01–0.05 mg/ml). The maximum degradation rate (93%) of methylene blue solution was reached at 48 mJ and 0.01 mg/ml for 30 min. Compared with the traditional adsorption degradation of carbon fibers, the degradation rate of the synergistic degradation of methylene blue solution by laser cavitation and activated carbon fibers can be increased by about 80% in a short time (30 min).

Viscose-derived activated carbons as adsorbents for malathion, dimethoate, and chlorpyrifos-screening, trends, and analysis.

The release and accumulation of pesticides in the environment require the development of novel sustainable technologies for their removal. While adsorption is a classical approach, the design of new materials with enhanced adsorption properties could rationalize the remediation routes and decrease potential risks for their non-target organisms, including humans. More importantly, the use of adsorbents and their synthesis should be implemented in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. In this contribution, we studied the adsorption of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) dimethoate, malathion, and chlorpyrifos on viscose fiber-derived activated carbon fibers (ACFs). The most efficient adsorption was found for chlorpyrifos, followed by malathion and dimethoate, while material properties were correlated with OP uptake. These ACFs are extremely efficient for chlorpyrifos adsorption, with experimentally observed adsorption capacitances reaching 240mgg-1. Detailed analysis suggests that chlorpyrifos is physisorbed on ACF surfaces and that increased surface hydrophilicity reduces the uptake. Studied ACFs have great potential for practical application. They can reduce OPs' concentrations to such levels that no acute neurotoxic effects of the studied OPs in spiked tap water samples are seen, even for starting concentrations up to 104 times higher than the allowed ones. Finally, this study presents possible guidance for developing even more efficient and environmentally friendly adsorbents for chlorpyrifos, the most toxic among studied OPs.

Acetaldehyde Adsorption Characteristics of Ag/ACF Composite Prepared by Liquid Phase Plasma Method.

Ag particles were precipitated on an activated carbon fiber (ACF) surface using a liquid phase plasma (LPP) method to prepare a Ag/ACF composite. The efficiency was examined by applying it as an adsorbent in the acetaldehyde adsorption experiment. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry confirmed that Ag particles were distributed uniformly on an ACF surface. X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that metallic silver (Ag0) and silver oxide (Ag2O) precipitated simultaneously on the ACF surface. Although the precipitated Ag particles blocked the pores of the ACF, the specific surface area of the Ag/ACF composite material decreased, but the adsorption capacity of acetaldehyde was improved. The AA adsorption of ACF and Ag/ACF composites performed in this study was suitable for the Dose–Response model.

Development of Antimicrobial CuO/(3-aminopropyl)Triethoxysilane Activated Carbon Fiber.

CuO nanoparticles (NPs) have been used for the antimicrobial agent against different pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, CuO NPs are immobilized on the surface of activated carbon fiber (ACF) with the enhancement of (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) as an organic binder. The obtained fibers are evaluated by coating efficiency, structural deformation, and antimicrobial activities. In the results, APTES can improve the immobilization of CuO on the surface of ACF. Also, the curing of silane layers at high temperature leads to the high coating efficiencies as well as structural reinforcement. The samples with drying step after APTES coating step (denoted as DA-CuO) have the highest antimicrobial activity against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus after 24 hours treatment, respectively.

Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Using Zinc Oxide Nanorods Grown on Activated Carbon Fibers

In this work, the synthesis, characterization, and photocatalytic performance of zinc oxide/activated carbon fiber nanocomposites prepared by hydrothermal method were investigated. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) were deposited as seeds on porous activated carbon fiber (ACF) substrates. Then, zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO-NR) were successfully grown on the seeds and assembled on the fibers’ surface in various patterns to form ZnO-NR/ACF nanocomposites. The nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis. SEM images showed that brush-like and flower-like ZnO-NR patterns were grown uniformly on the ACF surface with sizes depending on the ZnO-NP concentration, growth time, and temperature. The FTIR spectrum confirmed the presence of the major vibration bands, especially the absorption peaks representing the vibration modes of the COOH (C = O and C = C) functional group. Adsorption and photocatalytic activities of the synthesized catalytic adsorbents were compared using methylene blue (MB) as the model pollutant under UV irradiation. ZnO-NR/ACF nanocomposites showed excellent photocatalytic activity (~99% degradation of MB in 2 h) compared with that of bare ZnO-NR and ACF. Additionally, a recycling experiment demonstrated the stability of the catalyst; the catalytic degradation ratio of ZnO-NR/ACF reached more than 90% after five successive runs and possessed strong adsorption capacity and high photocatalytic ability. The enhanced photocatalytic activities may be related to the effects of the relatively high surface area, enhanced UV-light absorption, and decrease of charge carrier recombination resulting from the synergetic adsorption–photocatalytic degradation effect of ZnO and ACF.

Surface modification of activated carbon fiber by low-temperature oxygen plasma: Textural property, surface chemistry, and the effect of water vapor adsorption

The effects of adsorbent characteristics on its water adsorption performance were investigated using low-temperature oxygen plasma technology (LTOP) as a surface modification method. A series of activated carbon fiber (ACF)-based adsorbents was prepared to get further insight into the functions of water vapor adsorption behavior with textural property and surface chemistry. The result shows that LTOP treatment does not alter drastically the physical surface properties and simultaneously functionalize oxygen-containing functional groups (OFGs) especially carboxyl groups on the ACF surface when the treatment time and effective output voltage are 15 min and 8–9 kV, respectively. Meanwhile, the carbon atoms with unpaired electrons are found to be increased during the process of plasma treatment and used as active sites for chemical adsorption. Both OFGs and carbon atoms with unpaired electrons on the carbon surface play a vitally important role for water vapor adsorption. The surface functionalities and chemical adsorption may govern the adsorption–desorption behavior of water vapor at low relative humidity (RH less than 40%). Adsorption mechanism of water vapor on the carbon surface before and after LTOP treatment is proposed. After several adsorption and desorption cycles, the adsorption capacity of LTOP-treated ACFs is still higher than that of ACF-raw. Therefore, this technology may shed light on the potential application of LTOP-treated ACFs in harvesting water from air at low relative humidity.

Modification of polyacrylonitrile-based activated carbon fibers and their p-nitrophenol adsorption and degradation properties

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) are widely used adsorbent materials for wastewater treatment. In this study, polyacrylonitrile-based ACFs (PAN–ACF) were modified with oxalic acid to promote their adsorption of p-nitrophenol (PNP) in wastewater. The obtained results revealed that the adsorption efficiency of the modified ACFs amounted to 98.05%. The photocatalytic degradation of PNP by ACFs loaded with nano-TiO2 and nano-ZnO photocatalysts was examined as well; under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation, their PNP removal rates reached 99.85% and 98.31%, respectively. Moreover, the effects of pH, PNP concentration, and catalyst concentration on the PNP adsorption efficiency were systematically investigated. By conducting kinetic studies, it was found that the PNP adsorption on the PAN–ACF surface followed a pseudo-first-order model, while the PAN–ACF/TiO2 and PAN–ACF/ZnO obeyed a pseudo-second-order model, and all samples followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Additionally, an integrated high-pressure microwave reactor was designed and fabricated, and the possibility of degrading PNP through the microwave-assisted catalytic oxidation by PAN–ACF/TiO2 was considered. The results of this work suggest that the novel modified PAN–ACF, PAN–ACF/TiO2 and PAN–ACF/ZnO adsorbents are promising materials for the removal of PNP-based pollutants from wastewater due to their facile application procedure, low fabrication costs, and good scale-up abilities.

Virus removal from drinking water using modified activated carbon fibers.

Activated carbon (AC) exhibits superior sorption properties compared to other porous materials, due to well-developed porous structures and high surface areas. Therefore, it is widely applied in its various forms in water purification to remove a diverse range of contaminating species. The presence of viruses in fresh water bodies poses a serious issue for human health. However, AC has not yet been commonly applied to waterborne virus removal. In this study, we present oxidation and copper impregnation treatment procedures of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) that resulted in porous structure and surface chemistry modifications. The effect of these modifications on virus removal was investigated by experimental flow studies and revealed up to 2.8 log10 reduction value (LRV) and 3.6 LRV of MS2 bacterio-phages for non-modified and oxidized ACFs, respectively, emphasizing the advantages of ACF surface functionalization. Copper modified fibers demonstrated a high sensitivity to media composition, resulting in a release of metal and therefore limited virucidal capacity.

Surface Modification of Activated Carbon Fibers with Fe3O4 for Enhancing Their Electromagnetic Wave Absorption Property

In this study, the porous activated carbon fiber (ACF) is prepared by viscose fiber, and Fe3O4 coating is deposited on the surface of ACF through in situ hybridization to prepare carbon/magnetic electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption materials. Compared with pure Fe3O4 and ACF, the EM wave absorption rate is improved. When the solubility of FeCl3 is 2 mol/L and the thickness of the prepared ACF–Fe3O4(3) EM wave absorption material is 3 mm, the EM wave loss at 10 GHz reaches −44.3 dB and effective EM wave absorption bandwidths ( reflection loss RL < − 10 dB and RL < − 20 dB) reached 4.8 GHz (8.8–13.6 GHz) and 1.1 GHz (9.3–10.4 GHz), respectively. The prepared ACF-based composite material has a light structure and strong absorption bandwidth. Findings can provide references for the research on other EM wave-absorbing materials.

Fabrication and Characterization of Activated Carbon Fibers from Oil Palm Trunk.

To develop more valuable application, oil palm trunk was successfully converted into activated carbon fibers (ACFs). An effective process of chemical treatment with dilute sulfuric acid was conducted to improve the thermal stability of primary fibers for further heating treatment. Carbon dioxide (CO2) was used as activator to produce much porous structure with various pore diameter. The specific surface area (SBET) and total pore volume (Vtotal) of resultant ACFs showed increasing trend as rise of activation temperature and time. The ACFs obtained under the temperature of 900 °C and time of 90 min exhibited highest SBET and Vtotal, which were more than 1800 m2/g and 0.7 mL/g, respectively. Meanwhile, more graphic carbon on the surface of ACFs were destroyed with prolonging activation time, resulting in the oxygen-containing functional groups formed during activation process with CO2. Due to the abundant pores and surface functional groups, the ACFs exhibited excellent adsorption capacity of chromium and would be an alternative material for industrial adsorption utilization.

Catalytic ozonation of volatile organic compounds (ethyl acetate) at normal temperature

• Activated carbon fiber (ACF) which is pretreated with 10% H 2 SO 4 can increase specific surface area and pore volume obviously. • ACF loaded with Au, Ag, Pt and Pd noble metals are prepared by impregnation-chemical reduction method. • Ethyl acetate can be degraded by Pd/ACF under normal temperature. Catalytic treatments of VOCs at normal temperature can greatly reduce the cost and temperature of processing, and improve the safety factor in line with the requirements of green chemistry. Activated carbon fiber (ACF) was pretreated with 10% H 2 SO 4 by single factor optimization to increase specific surface area and pore volume obviously. The catalytic ozonation performance of ACF loaded with Au, Ag, Pt and Pd noble metals on ethyl acetate was investigated and Pd/ACF was selected as the optimal catalyst which had certain stability. Pd is uniformly distributed on the surface of ACF, and Palladium mainly exists in the form of Pd 0 with a amount of Pd +2 . The specific surface area of the catalysts gradually decreases as the loading increases. The activation energy of ethyl acetate calculated by Arrhenius equation is 113 kJ·mol −1 . With 1% Pd loading and the concentration ratio of ozone to ethyl acetate is 3:1, catalytic ozonation performance is maximized and the conversion rate of ethyl acetate reached to 60% in 30–50 °C at 15,000–30,000 h −1 .

Electro-Fenton Regeneration of Activated Carbon Fibers for the Removal of Pharmaceutical Residues

Introduction The electro-Fenton process is based on in-situ production of the Fenton’s reagent in order to continuously generate hydroxyl radicals in the bulk solution [1]. It is also possible to promote the generation of additional powerful oxidant species by using anode material with high oxygen evolution overpotential. Therefore, such electrochemical advanced oxidation process (EAOP) is able to degrade a large range of organic pollutants [1]. However, energy efficiency of EAOPs is strongly affected by mass transport limitations during the treatment of low concentrations of pollutants such as pharmaceutical residues. In fact, a large amount of hydroxyl radicals are wasted in parasitic reactions such as hydroxyl radical dimerization. The combination of adsorption and electro-Fenton processes aims at overcoming this drawback. Adsorption on activated carbon fibers (ACFs) is used for pre-concentration of organic pollutants. Then, ACFs can be directly used as cathode during the electro-Fenton process for desorption, degradation and mineralization of organic compounds as well as for regeneration of ACFs for additional adsorption steps [2]. The possibility to easily regenerate ACFs improve the cost-effectiveness of this material, which presents more suitable characterisitcs than grain or powder activated carbon (e.g. low intra-particle diffusion limitation leading to fast adsorption kinetics, narrow pore size distribution leading to selective adsorption of micropollutants). This innovative strategy was applied for the removal of pharmaceutical residues. Scale-up from batch to continuous filtration reactor was investigated. Material and methods A first set of experiments was performed in batch reactor for both adsorption and electro-Fenton processes, by using clofibric acid and ofloxacin as model pharmaceutical residues. Design parameters (e.g. anode material: boron-doped diamond (BDD) or TiOx) and operational parameters (current density, treatment time) were optimized for improving regeneration efficiency and mineralization of pharmaceutical residues. Regeneration efficiency was assessed by comparing the adsorption capacity of regenerated ACFs and pristine ACFs. Mineralization rate of desorbed organic compounds was measured by total organic carbon analysis. Biodegradability and acute toxicity (Microtox®) of the solution was also assessed. ACFs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Hg porosimetry, and Raman spectroscopy. Then, the study was focused on the design, implementation and optimization of this combined process in a single continuous filtration reactor and using a real effluent. Results and discussion Batch experiments using clofibric acid as model pollutant were performed in order to better understand the influence of critical design and operational parameters. The efficiency of the process was discussed as regards to (i) desorption of organic compounds and regeneration efficiency, (ii) degradation and mineralization of organic compounds and (iii) stability of ACFs for several successive adsorption/regeneration cycles. By using BDD as anode and a current density of 21 mA cm-2, it was observed that increasing the treatment time from 3 to 6 h strongly improved the regeneration effectiveness from 45 to 75%. Further increasing the treatment time to 9 h did not show significant positive effect because of the lower availability of a portion of adsorbed compounds within the ACF porosity. Besides, dividing the current density by a factor of 2.5 (8 mA cm-2) only reduced the regeneration efficiency from 75 to 64%, indicating that low current density might be more cost-effective. Using TiOx instead of BDD anode also only reduced the regeneration efficiency from 64 to 60%. TiOx is a new promising electrode material that is much less expensive than BDD. Therefore, using TiOx anode was considered as a more cost-effective configuration. A great advantage of this process is also that >80% of organic compounds desorbed from ACF were mineralized, thus avoiding the production of a toxic effluent. Regeneration efficiency was then assessed during 10 cycles of adsorption/regeneration without significant decrease due to the protection of the ACF surface by the cathodic polarization effect. Finally, this treatment strategy was implemented in a continuous filtration reactor where both adsorption and electro-Fenton regeneration could take place sequentially. Process efficiency for treating a real effluent was assessed by comparing breakthrough curves of pristine and regenerated filters. The development of this technology is currently focused on point-of-use filters for domestic applications (about 5 liters per day) as well as on industrial wastewater treatment (pilot-scale unit able to treat 10-20 liters per hour).

One-Pot Decoration of Cupric Oxide on Activated Carbon Fibers Mediated by Polydopamine for Bacterial Growth Inhibition.

Despite the widespread application of activated carbon fiber (ACF) filters in air cleaning owing to their high surface area and low price, they have certain limitations in that they facilitate bacterial growth upon prolonged use as ACF filters can provide favorable conditions for bacterial survival. The deposition of cupric oxide (CuO) on ACFs can be an effective way of resolving this problem because CuO can inhibit the proliferation of bacteria owing to its antimicrobial properties. However, finding a new method that allows the simple and uniform coating of CuO on ACF filters is challenging. Here, we demonstrate one-pot CuO deposition mediated by polydopamine (PD) to realize an ACF filter with antimicrobial activity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses reveal that CuO and PD are uniformly deposited on the ACF surface. The amount of CuO formed on the ACFs is measured by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Finally, the changes in surface area, pressure drop, and antimicrobial activity after coating PD-CuO on the ACFs are evaluated. The use of PD-CuO on the ACFs effectively suppresses the growth of bacteria and enhances the mechanical properties without significantly sacrificing the original characteristics of the ACF filter.

Self-assembly of single-crystal ZnO nanorod arrays on flexible activated carbon fibers substrates and the superior photocatalytic degradation activity

The synthesis of one-dimensional nanocrystals on flexible substrates has attracted a great attention in the last decade. We here report an integrated approach using a sequential sol-gel and hydrothermal synthesis method to successfully assemble well-aligned single-crystalline wurtzite ZnO nanorod arrays (ZnO NRAs) on activated carbon fibers (ACFs). The ZnO NRAs, with high rod surface area (up to 20 m2 g−1), high aspect ratio (rod length/rod diameter, ca. 20:1) and high defect level (indicated by an extremely sharp blue emission, strong green and yellow emissions), were shown to grow nearly perpendicularly on the ACFs surface. The pre-coating of ZnO seed layers on ACFs surface during sol-gel synthesis is vital for the growth of the ordered ZnO nanorod arrays. The structural and optical properties of ZnO NRAs/ACFs can be adjusted by tuning the synthesis parameters for sol-gel and hydrothermal steps. As compared to the ZnO NRAs grown on the stiff substrates (e.g., silicon wafer, fluorine-doped tin oxide glass, GaN and metal sheets), ZnO NRAs grown on ACFs have very high surface area and intensive blue, green and yellow emissions. The novel ZnO NRAs/ACFs show excellent photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and robust recyclability as compared to the individual ZnO nano particles (powder, NRs and NRAs).