Abstract
The surface activity of carbon microspheres (CMSs) can be significantly improved through oxidation reaction. To explore the changes of CMSs in the thermal stability and surface chemical properties, oxidized-CMSs were obtained with a mixture of concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids as the oxidizing agent. The characterization of morphologies, microstructures and thermal properties shows that oxygen-containing functional groups were introduced onto the surface of CMSs. The parent CMSs showed 4.99wt% weight loss in nitrogen atmosphere, which was mainly due to the evolution of carbon monoxide CO; oxidized-CMSs exhibited 30.97wt% weight loss, which was attributed to the thermal degradation of the oxygen-containing functional groups in the form of H2O, CO2, CO and NO, as examined by mass spectrometry.
Notes
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