This work reports the syntheses of an inexpensive and efficient asphalt-derived mesoporous carbon (AdMC) as an adsorbent. The adsorbent was activated with potassium hydroxide to increase its surface area and then characterized by SEM–EDS, FT-IR, and BET. The adsorption properties of AdMC were evaluated for the adsorptive removal of eleven Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and diesel from water samples. The prepared AdMC showed very high surface areas and high micropore volumes equal to 2316 m2/g and 1.2 cm3/g, respectively. Various experimental conditions influencing the adsorption capacity of eleven PAHs and diesel were investigated. At high concentrations, PAHs and diesel solubility in water is very low. Hence, samples were emulsified with a surfactant, and then maximum adsorption capacity was investigated. Adsorption profile of individual PAHs was examined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis followed by liquid–liquid extraction. Total hydrocarbon removal was studied using a total organic analyzer. Asphalt-derived mesoporous sorbent showed an extreme ability to remove PAHs and diesel (average adsorption capacity of 166 mg/g for individual PAHs and diesel (maximum capacity of 1600 mg/g). The experimental results fitted the Langmuir model with a correlation efficiency of 0.9853. The results obtained for both adsorbents also matched to pseudo-second-order kinetics, suggesting that the adsorption of PAHs and diesel is chemical, monolayer, and homogeneous process.

The present work focused on the determination of texture, morphology, crystallinity, and gas adsorption characteristics of porous graphene prepared from rice husks ashes at different stabilization temperature. The stabilization temperature applied in this work is 100 °C, 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C to convert rice husk into rice husk ashes (RHA). Chemical activation was adopted at temperature 800 °C using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as dehydrating agent at (1:5) impregnation ratio to convert RHA into rice husk ashes-derived graphene (GRHA). The resultant GRHA were characterized in terms of their morphological changes, SSA, crystallinity, and functional group with TEM, the BET method, Raman spectroscopy, and XRD analysis, respectively. Results from this study showed that the SSA of the GRHA at stabilization temperature 200 °C (1556.3 m2/g) is the highest compared to the other stabilization temperature. Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed that all GRHA samples possess D, G, and 2D bands, which confirm the successful synthesis of the rice husks into porous graphene-like materials, known as GRHA. Appearance of diffraction peak in XRD at 44.7° indicating the graphitic structure of all the GRHA samples. Meanwhile, the TEM images of GRHA200 exhibited wrinkled structures due to the intercalation of oxygen and a few layers of graphene flakes. These wrinkled structures and graphene layers are the other factors that lead to the highest SSA of GRHA200 compared to other prepared samples GRHA. Furthermore, the adsorption capacity of CH4 for GRHA200 is up to 43 cm3/g at 35 bar and ambient temperature, almost double the adsorption capacity performance of GRHA400 at the same operating pressure and temperature.

The aim of this work is to investigate the ability of a new functionalized graphene oxide 3-amino-5-phenylpyrazole (F-GO) in the adsorption and removal of Hg2+ from aqueous solution. Both untreated graphene oxide (GO) and F-GO were characterized using FT-IR, EDX, FE-SEM, XRD and TGA analysis. The effects of three operational variables (pH, adsorbent dose and initial metal ion concentrations) on Hg2+ adsorption capacity of F-GO were investigated by central composite design. This technique aims to find a simple way to optimize the adsorption process and to analyze the interaction between the significant parameters. A quadratic model suggested for the analysis of variance found that the adsorption of metal ions heavily depend upon pH of the solution. The adsorption mechanism has been determined by pseudo-first-order kinetic models and the adsorption behavior was modeled by Freundlich isotherm. Results demonstrated that the adsorption capacities of F-GO for removal of Hg2+ were generally higher than those of GO, which is attributed to a decrease in the agglomeration of graphene layers due to the presence of amino-functional moieties with their bulky phenyl groups. Thermodynamic data indicated that the functionalization significantly affects the thermostability of the GO precursor materials. The desorption study demonstrated favorable regenerability of the F-GO adsorbent, even after three adsorption–desorption cycles.

Giant miscanthus (GM) is an Asian grass that can produce biomass in high yields per land area. It can be used as a cathode material in lithium sulfur (Li/S) batteries. Giant-miscanthus-derived activated carbon (GMAC) is prepared via carbonization of GM followed by KOH activation. It is prepared with a large amount of KOH, and thus contained more defects but had a highly porous structure and graphitic cluster lattice. GMAC has a large specific surface area of 3327 m2/g and a large total pore volume of 1.86 cm3/g. The pore volume served as a storage space for the retention of polysulfides, thereby inhibiting the shuttle effect. When a GMAC–sulfur composite cathode is tested in a Li/S battery, an initial discharge capacity of 1148 mAh/g can be attained at 0.1 C. In a cyclic charge–discharge experiment at 1 C, discharge capacities of 529 mAh/g and 248 mAh/g are observed in the first and 200th cycles, respectively.

홍콩에는 예부터 지금까지 파키스탄, 인도, 네팔 등에서 온 이민들을 포함하여, 비중국어권 아동들이 적지 않다. 평등교육의 이념을 표방하는 홍콩평등기회위원회(香港平等機會委員會)는 비중국어권 학습자들이 중국어권 학습자들과 같은 학교에서 학습하기를 건의하여 그들이 최대한 빠른 시일 내에 홍콩 사회로 융화되게 하려 하였다. 이로 인해, 비중국어권 아동들은 홍콩 현지의 일반 유치원을 다니게 되었는데, 홍콩의 교육 관할 당국도 적지 않은 자원을 투입하여 이들이 현지 교육과정에 적응할 수 있도록 협조하였으나, 그 효과를 즉각적으로 확인할 수는 없었다. 그 중 가장 큰 문제는 학습의 차이를 처리하는 것이었다. 비중국어권 아동들의 중국어 실력은 모국어 수준에 미치지는 못했다. 이들이 중국어권 아동들과 함께 중국어 수업에 참여할 때 적잖은 어려움이 발행했다. 또한, 비중국어권 아동들의 성장 배경도 각기 달랐다. 신이민자 가정의 아동도 있고, 현지에서 출생한 소수 민족 아동도 있어, 이러한 학습자 사이의 중국어 수준의 차이도 존재했다. 이밖에도 소수민족과 홍콩의 문화적 차이 또한 매우 커서 모든 교사와 아동은 ‘학습’과 ‘교수’ 두 측면에서 모두 여러 가지 차이로 인해 발생하는 문제들을 처리해야 했다. 이처럼 비중국어권 학습자들이 홍콩에서 중국어를 배우는 것은 매우 쉽지 않았다. 상술한 문제들을 해결하기 위해서 경마회 자선기금 및 다섯 단체의 공영교육 사회복지기구는 ｢경마회의 재밌는 중국어 배우기(賽馬會(有)友趣學中文)｣ 라는 프로젝트를 추진하여, 중국어를 모국어로 갖지 않는 학습자들이 효과적으로 중국어 학습 하여 빠르게 사회에 융화되도록 도왔다. 본 프로 젝트는 수준별 교육과정, 수준별 교재, 수준별 학습법, 수준별 교구, 수준별 평가와 다층적 교학법을 설계하고 지원하여 학습 차이에서 생기는 어려움을 해결하는 데 도움을 주었다. 본고에서는 연구 이론과 설계, 데이터 수집 및 연구 결과를 상세히 서술하고, 효과적인 사례에 대해 상세하게 서술하려고 한다. 이러한 연구 성과는 세계 각지에 광범위하게 적용될 수 있을 것이다.