In the present study, a novel pH-sensitive hydrogel composite of pectin-grafted-poly (acrylic acid-co-itaconic acid)/MWCNTs- COOH was prepared by using graft copolymerization of acrylic acid and itaconic acid on pectin backbone with incorporation of MWCNTS- COOH. The prepared hydrogel composite has been employed for the adsorption and controlled release of the diclofenac sodium (DS) drug. The hydrogel composite was characterized by the analysis methods: FTIR, XRD, SEM, and TGA to analyze structural characteristics before and after DS drug adsorption. The swelling ratio of the hydrogel composite was investigated at different pH values from pH 1.2 to 10. According to the results, the swelling ratio of the hydrogel composite was found 4195% at pH 7.4. Adsorption process parameters such as pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, and temperature were investigated and found to have a significant influence on DS drug adsorption. The maximum DS drug loading through adsorption of 91% was obtained at pH 3, adsorbent dose of 0.05 g, contact time of 150 min, and temperature of 15 °C. The adsorption isotherm and kinetic results were well-fitted to Freundlich and second-order models. Thermodynamic parameters including changes in Gibb’s free energy, enthalpy, and entropy suggested that the adsorption of DS drug onto hydrogel composite was a spontaneous and exothermic process. The in vitro drug release experiment showed that the cumulative release of DS drug from hydrogel composite after 35 h was significantly higher in simulated intestinal fluid at pH 7.4 than in simulated gastric fluid at pH 1.2.

Cellulose has experienced a renaissance as a precursor for carbon fibers (CFs). However, cellulose possesses intrinsic challenges as precursor substrate such as typically low carbon yield. This study examines the interplay of strategies to increase the carbonization yield of (ligno-) cellulosic fibers manufactured via a coagulation process. Using Design of Experiments, this article assesses the individual and combined effects of diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP), lignin, and CO2 activation on the carbonization yield and properties of cellulose-based carbon fibers. Synergistic effects are identified using the response surface methodology. This paper evidences that DAP and lignin could affect cellulose pyrolysis positively in terms of carbonization yield. Nevertheless, DAP and lignin do not have an additive effect on increasing the yield. In fact, combined DAP and lignin can affect negatively the carbonization yield within a certain composition range. Further, the thermogravimetric CO2 adsorption of the respective CFs was measured, showing relatively high values (ca. 2 mmol/g) at unsaturated pressure conditions. The CFs were microporous materials with potential applications in gas separation membranes and CO2 storage systems.

Removing CO2 gas to address the global climate crisis is one of the most urgent agendas. To improve the CO2 adsorption ability of activated carbon, nitrogen plasma surface treatment was conducted. The effect of nitrogen plasma treatment on the surface chemistry and pore geometry of activated carbon was extensively analyzed. The porosity and surface groups of the activated carbon varied with the plasma treatment time. By plasma treatment for a few minutes, the microporosity and surface functionality could be simultaneously controlled. The changed microporosity and nitrogen groups affected the CO2 adsorption capacity and CO2 adsorption selectivity over N2. This simultaneous surface etching and functionalization effect could be achieved with a short operating time and low energy consumption.

The electrical resistances of small-sized activated carbon fiber (ACF) fabric (specific surface area: 1244.7 m2/ g, average pore diameter: 1.92 nm) and felt (specific surface area: 1321.2 m2/ g, average pore diameter: 2.21 nm) sensors were measured in a temperature and humidity controlled gas chamber by CO2 adsorption at different surrounding CO2 concentrations (3000–10,000 ppm). The electrical resistances of ACF sensors decreased linearly as the increase of temperature and decreased exponentially as the increase of humidity in the ambient atmospheric chamber. The electrical resistances of ACF rapidly decreased within 4 s and an equilibrium state was achieved within 10 s due to the very rapid CO2 adsorption at room temperature and 40% humidity. Comparing the difference in electrical resistance values measured during injection of similar concentrations of CO2 after reaching the equilibrium value, the fabric exhibited a significant change, whereas the felt did not, even though it had a relatively larger specific surface area. The reason is that micropore volume greatly affected the amount of CO2 adsorbed, whereas the specific surface area did not affect it as much. Therefore, ACF fabric with large micropores (> 2.0 nm) can be developed and used as CO2 sensors in small rooms such as a passenger vehicles.

Using first-principles theory, we investigated the adsorption performance of CoN4- CNT towards six small gases including NO, O2, H2, H2S, NH3, and CH4, for exploiting its potential application for chemical gas sensors. The frontier molecular orbital theory was conducted to help understand the conductivity change of the proposed material at the presence of gas molecules. The desorption behavior of gas molecules from CoN4- CNT surface at ambient temperature was analyzed as well to determine its suitability for sensing application. Results show that CoN4- CNT is a promising material for O2 and NH3 sensing due to their desirable adsorption and desorption behaviors while not appropriate for sensing NO due to the poor desorption ability and for sensing CH4 and H2 given the poor adsorption behavior. Our calculation would provide a first insight into the CoN4- embedded effect on the structural and electronic properties of single-walled CNT, and shed light on the application of CoN4- CNT towards sensing of small gases.

Microtextural and surface chemical heterogeneities of activated carbons (AC) have been studied to see their distinctive role for the adsorption of CO2, CO and N2 at 25 °C and up to 850 Torr. Not only the microtextural properties influence the adsorption of the gases, particularly CO2, but the chemical surface heterogeneity also plays a significant role for CO2 adsorption. The volume of ultramicropores < 7 Å is of predominantly importance in high CO2 adsorption at pressures above 30 Torr. However, the average size of micropores and their size distribution, and the chemical surface heterogeneity are much more critical at the Henry’s law region (< 30 Torr). The latter could be well characterized by the amount and Henry constant of CO2 adsorption at the low pressures, the Toth model parameters, the change in CO2/ CO and CO2/ N2 selectivities with respect to pressure, the amount of CO from the thermal decomposition, and the direct probing of very strong basicity sites using a technique that is the temperature-programmed desorption of CO2 adsorbed. All of them are consistent with the difference in the energetic nonuniformity between ACs studied, except for the last measure whose results could be reasonably explained when combining with the microtextural heterogeneity.

The present work is aimed at evaluating the kinetics and dynamic adsorption of methylene blue by CO2- activated carbon gels. The carbon gels were characterized by textural properties, thermal degradation and surface chemistry. The result shows that the carbon gels are highly microporous with surface area of 514 m2/g and 745 m2/g for resorcinol-to-catalyst ratios of 1000 (AC1) and 2000 (AC2), respectively. The kinetics data could be described by pseudo-first-order model, with a longer duration to attain equilibrium due to restricted pore diffusion as concentration increases. Also, AC1 exhibits insignificant kinetics with fluctuating adsorption with time at concentrations of 20 and 25 mg/L. However, AC1 reveals a better performance than AC2 in dynamic adsorption due to concentration gradient for molecules diffusion to active sites. The applicability of Yoon–Nelson and Thomas models indicates that the dynamic adsorption is controlled by external and internal diffusion.

Nitrogen-doped carbons have attracted much attention due to their novel application in relation to gas storage. In this study, nitrogen-doped porous carbons were synthesized using SBA-15 as a template, polypyrrole as the carbon and nitrogen precursor, and KOH as an activating agent. The effect of the activation temperature (600–850°C) on the CO2 adsorption capacity of the obtained porous carbons was studied. Characterization of the resulting carbons showed that they were micro-/meso-porous carbon materials with a well-developed pore structure that varied with the activation temperature. The highest surface area of 1488 m2 g–1 was achieved at an activation temperature of 800°C (AC-800). The nitrogen content of the activated carbon decreased from 4.74 to 1.39 wt% with an increase in the activation temperature from 600 to 850°C. This shows that nitrogen is oxidized and more easily removed than carbon during the activation process, which indicates that C-N bonds are more easily ruptured at higher temperatures. Furthermore, CO2 adsorption isotherms showed that AC-800 exhibited the best CO2 adsorption capacity of 110 mg g–1 at 298 K and 1 bar.

We perform density functional theory calculations to study the CO and O2 adsorption chemistry of Pt@X core@shell bimetallic nanoparticles (X = Pd, Rh, Ru, Au, or Ag). To prevent CO-poisoning of Pt nanoparticles, we introduce a Pt@X core-shell nanoparticle model that is composed of exposed surface sites of Pt and facets of X alloying element. We find that Pt@Pd, Pt@Rh, Pt@Ru, and Pt@Ag nanoparticles spatially bind CO and O2, separately, on Pt and X, respectively. Particularly, Pt@Ag nanoparticles show the most well-balanced CO and O2 binding energy values, which are required for facile CO oxidation. On the other hand, the O2 binding energies of Pt@Pd, Pt@Ru, and Pt@Rh nanoparticles are too strong to catalyze further CO oxidation because of the strong oxygen affinity of Pd, Ru, and Rh. The Au shell of Pt@Au nanoparticles preferentially bond CO rather than O2. From a catalysis design perspective, we believe that Pt@Ag is a better-performing Ptbased CO-tolerant CO oxidation catalyst.

Magnetite particles were synthesized by co-precipitation of water-soluble 밀 스케일-derived precursor by various concentrations of (0.5, 0.67, 1, 2 N) NaOH and (0.6, 0.8, 1.2, 2.4 N) NH4OH. It is theoretically known that as the concentration of the alkaline additive used in iron oxide synthesis increases, the particle size distribution of that iron oxide decreases. This trend was observed in both kind of alkaline additive used, NaOH and NH4OH. In addition, the magnetite synthesized in NaOH showed a relatively smaller particle size distribution than magnetite synthesized in NH4OH. Crystalline phase of the synthesized magnetite were determined by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy(XRD). The particles were then used as an adsorbent for phosphate(P) removal. Phosphorus adsorption was found to be more efficient in NaOH-based synthesized magnetite than the NH4OH-based magnetite.

This study was carried out for characterization of MIO synthesized in our laboratory by co-precipitation method and applied isotherm and kinetic models for adsorption properties. XRD analysis were conducted to find crystal structure of synthesized MIO. Further SEM and XPS analysis was performed before and after phosphate adsorption, and BET analysis for surface characterization. Phosphate stock solution was prepared by KH2PO4 for characterization of phosphate adsorption, and batch experiment was conducted using 50 ml conical tube. Langmuir and Freundlich models were applied based on adsorption equilibrium test of MIO by initial phosphate solution. Pseudo first order and pseudo second order models were applied for interpretation of kinetic model by temperature. Surface area and pore size of MIO were found 89.6 m2/g and 16 nm respectively. And, the determination coefficient (R2) value of Langmuir model was 0.9779, which was comparatively higher than that of Freundlich isotherm model 0.9340.

Activated carbon fibers(ACFs) were prepared in this research from a polyacrylonitrile(PAN) precursor with the KOH(1~4 M) pretreatment and following activation at 800oC in a lab-scale. The sample ACFs were characterized according to their textural properties, and evaluated for CO2 adsorption capacity. The surface area and pore volume of ACFs increased according to the pretreatment with KOH; for example, 4M-KOH aqueous solution resulted in 1552.5 m2/g specific surface area and 0.605 cc/g pore volume. It also showed high CO2 adsorption amount(3.11 mmol/g) which showed a proportional increase with reaction pressure.

High crystallinity coke-based activated carbon (hc-AC) is prepared using a potassium hydroxide solution to adsorb carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 adsorption characteristics of the prepared hc-AC are investigated at different temperatures. The X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that pitch-based cokes prepared under high temperature and pressure have a high crystal structure. The textural properties of hc-AC indicate that it consists mainly of slit-like pores. Compared to other textural forms of AC that have higher pore volumes, this slit-poreshaped hc-AC exhibits higher CO2 adsorption due to the similar shape between its pores and CO2 molecules. Additionally, in these high-crystallinity cokes, the main factor affecting CO2 adsorption at lower temperature is the pore structure, whereas the presence of oxygen functional groups on the surface has a greater impact on CO2 adsorption at higher temperature.

In order to minimize a building energy consumption with ventilation, a development of smart ventilation system is very important. In this study, a dry adsorbent that is main element of smart ventilation system was developed for removing indoor CO2, and evaluate the adsorption performance. Specific surface area, pore characteristic and crystal structure of the modified sorbent was measured to analyze physical properties. From this analysis, it was found that the developed absorbent has a low specific surface area, due to mesopores of substrate was filled with metal contained raw material. Additionally, through analysis of the adsorption properties, the developed adsorbent was shown a adsorption form of mesopore (type Ⅳ), which means adsorption amount was rapidly increased at the part of high-pressure. Order to applying for the field, chamber test was performed. Continuous column tests (2,500 ppm) and batch chamber tests (4 m3, 5,000 ppm) showed CO2 removal efficiency of 95% and 88% within 1 hour, respectively.

In this study, CO₂ adsorbent was produced for minimizing energy loss due to ventilation within the building. For improved selectivity about low concentration of CO₂ in multiple-use facilities, the ball type adsorbent was modified from a commercial zeolite, alumina, alkali metals and activated carbon with mixing LiOH, binder, and H₂O. We measured specific surface area, pore characteristic, and crystal structure of the modified adsorbent. Effects of alkalization on the absorptive properties of the adsorbents were investigated. Continuous column tests (2,000 ppm) and batch chamber tests (4m3, 5,000ppm) showed that the modified adsorbent indicated about the selectivity of CO₂ more than 9.7% (0.613 mmol/g) compared with ordinary adsorbents and CO₂ removal efficiency of 88.8% within l hour, respectively. It was estimated that the modified adsorbent was applicable to indoor environments.

The conversion of coal fly ash into zeolites contributes to the mitigation of environmental problems and turns this by-product into useful material. In this work, zeolitic sorbents for CO₂ adsorption were prepared by waste fly ash from Boryeong coal power plants through the alkali fusion method including hydrothermal treatment at various ratios of NaOH/FA and NaAlO₂/FA. In addition, in order to improve the adsorption capacity for CO₂ molecules a few metal cations were impregnated into the synthesized zeolitic sorbents through the ion exchange. The fusion step could decompose the fly ash to very small amorphous particulate zeolite forms. The fly ash was converted into Na-P1 type with 0.5 NaOH/FA and Na-A type from the ratio of 0.53, NaAlO₂/FA. Although the crystallinity of Na-A increased with increasing temperature, Na-A was transformed into sodalite at 140℃. Thus, the optimum reaction temperature was determined to be 100℃. Alkali metal and alkaline earth metal cations were impregnated into the synthesized zeolite Na-P1 and Na-A through ion exchanged method. The completed zeolitic sorbents were applied to adsorption the CO₂. As a result of the examination, Ca²⁺ was found to be the best for CO₂ adsorption owing to its electrostatic interactions and acid-base surface properties.

In order to capture the indoor CO₂ gas from public indoor spaces, a commercial zeolite(4A) was modified with alkali metals useful for adsorption. The prepared sorbents showed somewhat improved adsorption capacity. A few isotherm models were reviewed to characterize the adsorption mechanism of test sorbents. Sips model was found the most appropriate for low level indoor CO₂ adsorption, but revealed a significant error in low pressure regimes and required numerical analysis for quantitative evaluation. Thus, a parameter(qm) in the equation was empirically recorrelated with a operation temperature. As a result, the final model equation including a simple linear function presented less errors for evaluation of the potential capacity of adsorption.