Electrochemical treatment on activated carbon fibers for increasing the amount and rate of Cr(VI) adsorption

The present study concerns anodic oxidation of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) in order to introduce the surface functional groups onto ACF surfaces. The surface oxides of ACFs were measured using titration and FT-IR spectrometry. As a result, it was observed that the amount of adsorption and the adsorption rate of Cr(VI) increase with increases in the surface oxide groups of ACFs, even though both the specific surface area and the micropore volume do not significantly change as with anodic oxidation treatments on ACFs.