Structural characterization of N-containing activated carbon fibers prepared from a low softening point petroleum pitch and a melamine resin

The incorporation of heteroatoms like N in activated carbons is of interest to modify the surface chemistry of the materials and, then, to improve their behavior as catalyst or catalyst support. In this work, N-containing activated carbon fibers have been prepared using a petroleum pitch with a low softening point and an N-containing resin. The novelty of the preparation method is that it involves the steps used in the synthesis of activated carbon fibers, i.e. spinning, stabilization, carbonization and activation. The materials have been characterized with techniques such as XPS and UPS, which allows us to follow the changes in both the chemical state of N species and the valence band structure of the carbon samples during the preparation steps. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.