Silver-supporting Modification of Viscose Rayon-Based Activated Carbon Fabrics

This study examines the properties and microstructure of viscose rayon-based activated carbon fabric (ACF) modified by supporting silver. ACF with different pore characteristics is prepared using different active gases, followed by silver-supporting modification. The effect of variation in decomposition temperature and the reaction time on the chemical properties and microstructure of silver-containing activated carbon fabric (ACF-Ag) absorbents are investigated. In addition, the antibacterial ability and absorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of the ACF-Ag absorbent are also measured. Experimental results show that carbon fiber activated by steam and air has more mesopores and a larger BET specific surface area (based on the formula of multilayer absorption by Brunauer, Emmett and Teller). In addition, the crystals thus formed are thicker and denser with relatively higher true density values. The ratio of the oxygen containing functional groups is also higher. Among the functional groups of ACF-Ag, the peak value of the carbonyl function group will increase, and so will the peak value of alcohol and ether. Comparing the ACF adsorbent before and after silver deposition shows that the ACF-Ag adsorbent has a lower isotherm, less BET specific surface area and a smaller mean pore diameter. The maximum adsorption of VOCs by the ACF-Ag adsorbent reduces more significantly as a result of increased silver content than the weight of VOCs adsorbed by ACF before silver deposition. In any case, different ACF-Ag adsorbents all show effective antibacterial and sterilizing properties.