Efficient preparation of carbon nanospheres-anchored porous carbon materials and the investigation on pretreatment methods

Manufacturing high-performance activated carbon (AC) materials from abundant biomass at low temperature and short activation time is targeted by the green and sustainable chemical industry. Here, a 1980 m(2)/g of carbon nanospheres-anchored porous carbon material (PHAC) derived from waste sawdust was prepared by a method of H3PO4 hydrothermal combined with fast activation at 450 degrees C within 2.8 min. It is found that H3PO4 hydrothermal pretreatment could promote the dehydration of carbohydrates to form more unstable C = O structures, which were decomposed in the subsequent fast activation to form pore structures. In addition, this process is also conducive to the formation of carbon nanospheres, increasing the degree of graphitization and producing more graphite defects. The prepared PHAC showed good adsorption performance for different types of pollutants. This work provides a new insight for the preparation of high performance biomass based carbon materials under mild conditions.

Automated summary

This research successfully prepared high-performance carbon material PHAC from waste sawdust using H3PO4 hydrothermal combined with fast activation, showing excellent adsorption performance for different pollutants. The study found that the pretreatment promoted the formation of unstable structures, leading to the formation of pore structures and carbon nanospheres during activation.