Evaluation of Toluene Adsorption Performance of Mortar Adhesives Using Porous Carbon Material as Adsorbent

Abstract

Porous carbon materials are advantageous in adsorbing pollutants due to their wide range of specific surface areas, pore diameter, and pore volume. Among the porous carbon materials in the current study, expanded graphite, xGnP, xGnP C-300, xGnP C-500, and xGnP C-750 were prepared as adsorbent materials. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis was conducted to select the adsorbent material through the analysis of the specific surface area, pore size, and pore volume of the prepared porous carbon materials. Morphological analysis using SEM was also performed. The xGnP C-500 as adsorbent material was applied to a mortar adhesive that is widely used in the installation of interior building materials. The toluene adsorption performances of the specimens were evaluated using 20 L small chamber. Furthermore, the performance of the mortar adhesive, as indicated by the shear bond strength, length change rate, and water retention rate, was analyzed according to the required test method specified in the Korean standards. It was confirmed that for the mortar adhesives prepared using the xGnP C-500 as adsorbent material, the toluene adsorption performance was excellent and satisfied the required physical properties.

A sustainable multi-function biomorphic material for pollution remediation or UV absorption: Aerosol assisted preparation of highly porous ZnO-based materials from cork templates

“…Considering the experiment carried out with no light irradiation, however, a significant proportion of the dye was not photodegraded, but adsorbed by the material (about 52 %). This is reasonable, since ZnAc1 still contains some residual graphite, as shown above, and it is well known that graphite is a very powerful adsorber of organic molecules [36]. Moreover, as shown by the SEM image (Figure 3(a)), ZnAc1 has a 3D structure resembling that of cork, and is, hence, very porous, which corresponds to a high adsorption property [36]; this sample also had the largest SSA (see Figure 6).…”

“…This is reasonable, since ZnAc1 still contains some residual graphite, as shown above, and it is well known that graphite is a very powerful adsorber of organic molecules [36]. Moreover, as shown by the SEM image (Figure 3(a)), ZnAc1 has a 3D structure resembling that of cork, and is, hence, very porous, which corresponds to a high adsorption property [36]; this sample also had the largest SSA (see Figure 6). Often cork-derived graphitic materials (not ceramics, as reported here) need activation to decrease their hydrophobicity and increase the adsorption performance [37].…”