Structure, surface and reactivity of activated carbon: From model soot to Bio Diesel soot

Abstract

Abstract The present work aims to investigate and compare the structure, surface and reactivity of the activated Printex U carbon black and real Bio soot samples through BET, Raman, HRTEM, XPS, DRIFTS and temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO). TPO evidenced that the activated Printex U carbon black was more reactive than the activated Biodiesel soot (B7 and B100) generated from a real engine under both O2 and NO\u202f+\u202fO2. BET displayed an increased surface area and a decreased pore size for the activated soot. Raman and HRTEM revealed that the activated soot showed decreased structural order. The morphology features also confirmed different combustion pathway for Printex U and B100. XPS illustrated that the activation decreased surface graphene carbon and increased surface oxygen content. DRIFTS indicated that real Bio soot had higher concentration of surface functional groups than Printex U model soot, and a more apparent increase in surface functional groups was observed for the activated Printex U soot. It was proved that the reactivity of the activated Printex U is more dependent on structural and surface properties compared with that of the activated Biodiesel soot samples.