Microporous structures of carbonaceous adsorbents

The simplest model of the porous structure of carbonaceous adsorbents is proposed, in which the microporous zones are formed by the totality of contacting and merged carbon crystallites. The micropores limited in extent resulted from the burnout on activation of several atomic layers of carbon in the crystallites by gaseous oxidizers (intercrystallite micropores) and from some development of the spaces between contacting crystallites (intercrystallite micropores). The micropore zones are shaped into regular cubes. The slit-like spaces between part of the micropore zones represent the micropore volume, while the total surface area of the walls of such pores is the mesopore surface. The parameters of the model for typical samples of microporous carbonaceous adsorbents are calculated and discussed. The formation of intercrystallite slit-like micropores as a result of the burnout of carbon atomic layers in crystallites on avtivation is considered. It is shown that only a wide micropore distribution leading to the formation of the supermicropores practically results in deviation from the applicability of the one-term adsorption equation of the theory of volume filling of micropores.