Characterization of Silver Particles in Silver-Containing Activated Carbon Fibers Prepared from Liquefied Wood

Abstract

Silver particles in silver-containing activated carbon fibers prepared from liquefied wood were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, scanning electron microscope, and nitrogen adsorption isotherms. Silver irons (Ag + ) and metallic silver (Ag 0 ) were detected in fibers, and the amount of Ag 0 was much higher than that of Ag + . Ag 0 were migrated and aggregated together to form silver particles with a wide size (0-5µm), which were distributed in micropores, mesopores, and surface of fibers. The mean size of silver particles on the surface was directly related to soaking concentration, while the larger silver particles were easier to peel off from the surface. Also, the increasing micropores and mesopores were blocked by silver particles at higher concentration, and some blocked mesopores were converted into micropores. When the washing treatment was carried out, the silver particles on the surface were removed significantly, resulting in an increase in mesopore quantity. However, most of the silver particles in micropores were firmly supported. The silvercontaining activated carbon fibers showed the high and lasting antibacterial activity.

Self-Regeneration Performance and Characterization of Silver-Containing Activated Carbon Fibers Coated by Titanium Dioxide

“…In Figure 3e, the two peaks observed at 373.9 eV and 368.1 eV are according with Ag3d 3/2 and Ag 3d 5/2 , indicating that the AgNPs loaded on the fibers mainly existed in the form of zero-valence [19].…”

“…This result indicates that AgNPs was preferred to fill the micropores. The quoted researches demonstrate that the adsorbability of micropores to AgNPs was larger than that of mesopores [19]. Therefore, the AgNPs in mesopores could escape from the pores to the surface of the fiber and combine with other AgNPs on the surface to form large AgNPs.…”

Variations of antibacterial activity and silver characteristic of silver‐containing activated carbon fibers undergoing cyclic antibacterial tests

“…As the cycle number of antibacterial tests continued to rise, relatively slow decreases were observed. Moreover, less silver ions were released from WACF/Ag‐0.2, compared with the other samples, owing to the fact that more silver ions were adsorbed or precipitated on fibers were reduced to metallic silver . In the application, the samples with low silver ion release were more favored, especially being used as the purification of drinking water .…”