[Toluene, Benzene and Acetone Adsorption by Activated Carbon Coated with PDMS]

To improve the adsorption selectivity of volatile organic compounds ( VOCs) , activated carbon ( AC) was modified by polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and characterized by BET analysis and Boehm titration. Dynamic adsorption column experiments were conducted and Yoon-Neslon(Y-N) model was used to identify adsorption effect for toluene, beuzene and acetone on AC when relative humidity was 0%, 50% and 90%, respectively. The results showed that the BET area, micropore volume and surface functional groups decreased with the PDMS modification, and surface hydrophobicity of the modified AC was enhanced leading to a lower water adsorption capacity. The results of dynamic adsorption showed that the adsorption kinetics and capacity of Bare-AC decreased with the increase of relative humidity, and the adsorption capacities of PDMS coated AC were 1.86 times (toluene) and 1.92 times (benzene) higher than those of Bare-AC, while a significant improvement of adsorption capacity for acetone was not observed. These findings suggest that polarity of molecule can be an important influencing factor for adsorption on hydrophobic surface developed by PDMS.