Special Issue
  • Fabrication of Activated Carbon Fibers from Polyacrylonitrile-Derived Carbon Fibers: Investigating CO2 Adsorption Capability in Relation to Surface Area

  • Seung Geon Kim***, Sujin Lee*, Inchan Yang*,†, Doo-Won Kim**,†, Dalsu Choi***,†

  • * Carbon Materials Research Group, Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea Convergence R&D Division, Korea
    ** Carbon Industry Promotion Agency (KCARBON), Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54852, Republic of Korea
    *** Chemical Engineering Department, Myongji University, 116, Myongji-ro, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 17058, Republic of Korea

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) are fibrous form of activated carbon (AC) with higher mechanical strength and flexibility, which make them suitable for building modules for applications including directional gas flow such as air and gas purification. Similarly, ACFs are anticipated to excel in the efficient capture of CO₂. However, due to the difficulties in fabricating monofilament carbon fibers at a laboratory scale, most of the studies regarding ACFs for CO₂ capture have relied on electrospun carbon fibers. In this study, we fabricated monofilament carbon fibers from PAN-based monofilament precursors by stabilization and carbonization. Then, ACFs were successfully prepared by chemical activation using KOH. Different weight ratios ranging from 1:1 to 1:4 were employed in the fabrication of ACFs, and the samples were designated as ACF-1 to ACF-4, respectively. As a function of KOH ratio, increase in surface area could be observed. However, the CO₂ adsorption trend did not follow the surface area trend, and the ACF-3 with second largest surface area exhibited the highest CO₂ adsorption capacity. To understand the phenomena, nitrogen content and ultramicropore distribution, which are important factors determining CO₂ adsorption capacity, were considered. As a result, while nitrogen content could not explain the phenomena, ultramicropore distribution could provide a reasoning that the excessive etching led ACF-4 to develop micropore structure with a broader distribution, resulting in high surface area yet deteriorated CO₂ adsorption


Keywords: Activated Carbon Fibers, CO₂ Capture, Chemical Activation

This Article

Correspondence to

  • Inchan Yang*, Doo-Won Kim**, Dalsu Choi***

  • * Carbon Materials Research Group, Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea Convergence R&D Division, Korea
    ** Carbon Industry Promotion Agency (KCARBON), Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54852, Republic of Korea
    *** Chemical Engineering Department, Myongji University, 116, Myongji-ro, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 17058, Republic of Korea

  • E-mail: dalsuchoi@mju.ac.kr, iyang@rist.re.kr, doowon@kcar