In order to investigate the adsorption characteristics of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) with improved surface morphologies towards volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a commercial low-grade ACF was surface modified by successive surface treatment (ST) and chemical activation (CA) process. O3 was used as an ST agent for the formation of oxygen-containing functional groups on the carbon matrix of ACFs. CA was carried out after ST, using a KOH solution. After the successive ST-CA process, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and average pore diameter of ACFs were increased from 1483 m2/g to 2743 m2/g and enlarged from 1.931 nm to 2.512 nm, respectively. The successive ST-CA process also resulted in the adsorption capacities of benzene, toluene, and xylene of the ACFs to increase from 0.22 g-Ben./g-ACFs, 0.18 g-Tol./g-ACFs, and 0.19 g-Xyl/g-ACFs up to 0.37 g-Ben./g-ACFs, 0.35 g-Tol./g-ACFs, and 0.38 g-Xyl/g-ACFs, respectively.
Keywords: BTX gas adsorption; IAQ; activated carbon fiber; chemical activation; surface treatment; textural properties.