Activated Carbon: Scientific Evidence for Molecular-Level Purification
Forget the charcoal on your grill. Activated carbon is an engineered porous material. It begins with carbon-rich materials like coconut shells, coal, or wood. After carbonization at high temperatures (around 600-900°C) in an oxygen-deficient environment, volatile components are burned off, leaving pure carbon. The real transformation lies in activation: the structure of the carbon is violently etched using superheated steam or chemicals (like phosphoric acid). This isn’t destruction, but creation. Billions of micropores and tunnels are sculpted, causing its internal surface area to increase exponentially. Imagine unfolding a piece of material the size of a postage stamp into a football field—that’s the hidden landscape of activated carbon. Activation Mechanism and Pore Science Through activation with superheated steam or phosphoric acid (Bansal et al., Activated Carbon Adsorption 2019), carbonized raw materials such as coconut shells/coal form a microporous-mesoporous hierarchical structure (Sing, Pure Appl. Chem. 1985): Coconut shell char has a micropore content >80% (pore size 0.8-1.2nm), specifically capturing small molecule pollutants (Yahya et al., J. Clean. Prod. 2015). Coal-based char has well-developed mesopores (2-50nm), targeting macromolecular pigments and VOCs. Micropores (<2nm): Capture chloroform and benzene compounds (meeting IUPAC pore classification standards). Mesopores (2-50nm): Fix dyes and algal toxin molecules. Types, Performance,...
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