Facile Synthesis of Carboxylated Activated Carbon Using Green Approach for Water Treatment

Abstract A chemical treatment by using oxidizing agents is the most common methodology to modify or create functional groups on activated carbon. The modified activated carbon obtained from chemical oxidation needs further treatment and produced waste, therefore a new approach is needed. A facile green approach is reported. In this approach the activated carbon was oxidized using air without additional chemical treatment to increase the content of acidic surface functional groups, especially carboxyl groups. The formation of carboxyl groups was confirmed by Temperature Programmed Decomposition, Boehm titration, and Infra-red spectroscopy results. The Boehm titration result showed higher contents of carboxyl groups by three-fold. The carboxylated activated carbon synthesized by green approach showed excellent performance for water treatment.