Comparative Studies of Carbon Blacks by Thermogravimetry and Nitrogen Adsorption

Thermodesorption behavior of water, n-butanol, and n-heptane from different carbon blacks was studied by thermogravimetry. It was shown that differences in interactions of these adsorbates with the carbon blacks studied can be monitored by this technique. The adsorbates' polarity is essential in controlling thermodesorption from low surface area carbon blacks while this factor seems to be less important in the case of high surface area samples. The relative thermodesorption plot was introduced and used to analyze thermogravimetric data. It was shown that this method provides information about surface heterogeneity similar to that obtained from the comparative adsorption plot. In addition, thermogravimetric results are related to nitrogen adsorption data. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.