Adsorption of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) on Oxygen-rich Porous Carbon Materials Obtained from Glucose/Potassium Oxalate.

To investigate the effects of oxygen-containing functional groups on the adsorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with different polarity, oxygen-rich porous carbon materials (OPCs) were synthesized by heat treatment of glucose/potassium oxalate material. The carbon material had a large specific surface area (1697 m2  g-1 ) and a high oxygen content (18.95 at.%). OPC exhibited high adsorption capacity of toluene (309 mg g-1 ) and methanol (447 mg g-1 ). The specific surface area and total pore volume determined the adsorption capacity of toluene and methanol at the high-pressure range, while the oxygen-containing groups became the main factor affecting the methanol adsorption at the low-pressure range due to the hydrogen bond interaction through the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This study provides an important hint for developing a novel O-doped adsorbent for the VOCs adsorption applications and analyzing the role of oxygen-containing groups in the VOCs adsorption under the low-pressure range.