Mesoporous high-surface-area activated carbon produced from coconut shell

Mesoporous high-surface-area activated carbons were prepared from coconut shells by a simultaneous physical and chemical activation technique that employs carbon dioxide and zinc chloride as the physical and chemical agents, respectively. The resultant activated carbons possess an N-2-BET surface areas above 2000 m(2)/g, a total pore volumes as high as 1.9 cm(3)/g, and a mesopore content (ratio of mesopore volume to total pore volume) of over 70%. The average pore size ranges from 2 nm to 3.5 nm. Both the surface area and the mesopore content could be tuned by controlling the experimental parameters, viz. ZnCl2 to coconut shell (Zn-C) ratio, duration of exposure to the carbon dioxide atmosphere and temperature of activation. In particular, Zn-C ratios above 1 yielded high surface areas and ratios above 2 resulted in high mesopore content.