Obtaining CMK-3 carbon using three different carbon sources: sucrose, commercial pectin, and pectin extracted from apple wastes
摘要
Given the growing demand for nanoscale carbon materials, which possess adsorbent properties and are environmentally friendly, the present work introduces pectin as a new carbon source for synthesizing carbons mesostructured from Korea–3 (CMK-3) with a methodology designed according to the pectin characteristics. The paper presents a comparison between three samples according to their carbon source: (1) sucrose (CMK-3 SAC), (2) Sigma Aldrich analytical grade pectin (CMK-3 PEC-SA), and finally, (3) pectin extracted as agricultural residue from Golden Delicious apple (CMK-3 PEC-RA). The samples were characterized structural, morphological, and texturally by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and RAMAN spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and N2 physisorption. Pectin structural characterizations allowed the establishment of optimal synthesis conditions. The results showed that CMK-3 synthesized using CMK-3 PEC-RA obtained superior values of specific surface area (1,534 m2/g), pore volume (1.3 m3/g) and mesopores diameters (4.5 nm) with arrangements of homogeneous nanopipes diameters of around 6.5 nm visualized with a fast Fourier transform (FFT) mask than the sample CMK-3-SAC. This fact indicates that using apple waste and its biopolymer pectin may be viable in developing CMK-3 mesoporous carbons with highly specific surface areas for fine chemical processes, considering the previous characterization and homogenization of apple waste.