Granulated activated carbon oxidation, a comparison between wet-chemistry and plasma approaches in dry and wet forms

de la Torre-Miranda, Nathalie;Eloy, Pierre;Gaigneaux, Eric;Hermans, Sophie
(2025) Materials Chemistry and Physics — Vol. 341, p. 130878 (2025)

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Activated carbon oxidation was explored by comparing two approaches: wet-chemistry (employing HNO3 or H2O2 solutions) and glidarc plasma exposure, working with different reactor configuration modes and gases. The oxidized samples were characterized by XPS, FTIR, N2-physisorption, SEM, Boehm titrations and compared in terms of oxidation efficiency, created functionalities and morphological changes. Excellent oxidation is accomplished by exposing activated carbon in solid form directly to the plasma plume and the oxidized material shows characteristics similar to HNO3 oxidized carbon: high oxidation degree with abundance of carboxylic acids. In contrast, if the carbon is exposed to plasma while being in water suspension, the oxidation degree is lower and the main created functions are phenols, with equivalent characteristics to H2O2 oxidized carbon. Additionally, it was demonstrated that the carbon's oxidation degree and type of oxygen functionalities seem little influenced by the type of gas used for plasma generation, though the presence/absence of water could enhance/diminish the nitrates or O–H containing species present in the oxidized carbons. Plasma oxidation has advantageously a lower impact on the carbon's textural properties than HNO3 oxidation, while obtaining high oxidation efficiency, and the introduced oxygen functions seem stable for at least 6 weeks after plasma exposure.
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de la Torre-Miranda, N., Eloy, P., Gaigneaux, E., & Hermans, S. (2025). Granulated activated carbon oxidation, a comparison between wet-chemistry and plasma approaches in dry and wet forms. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 341, 130878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2025.130878 (Original work published 2025)