Influence of stacked structure of carbons modified on its surface on n-pentane adsorption

In this study, the microstructure of a series of activated carbons modified on its chemistry surface was evaluated from X-ray diffraction and porous structure analysis, and the effect of the stacked graphitic structure on the n-pentane adsorption capacity. The activated carbons were prepared modifying an activated carbon (obtained from coconut shell) by carbonization processes at 1073, 1173 and 1273 K and impregnation with 65% nitric acid solution, 60% phosphoric acid solution and reflux with 30% ammonium hydroxide solution. The activated carbons were characterized by N₂ adsorption at 77 K. It was found that these are essentially microporous materials with surface areas between 469 and 1113 m² g^-1, and the evaluation of the microstructure was performed by determining the number of aromatic layers stacked from the analysis of the observed diffraction peak between 20-30° 2θ which corresponds to the 002 reflection in the plane of the coal using the STACK XRD technical. The results showed that impregnation as carbonization favours the development of the crystalline structure to the activated carbons, which is shown by the increase of the stacked structure at the same time; this favours the n-pentane adsorption.