RADIAL-DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION-ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF ACTIVATED CARBONS

The structure of a series of activated carbon materials prepared from a polymer of phenol formaldehyde resin with different degree of ''burn -off'' from 0 to 32% and variable porosity has been studied by wide-an gle neutron scattering. The intensity measurements, extended to Q valu es of 50 Angstrom(-1) yielded the radial distribution functions with t he real space resolution of about 0.12 Angstrom. The obtained results show that the structural features of the investigated materials are no t affected by the activation process. All well-defined peaks of the ra dial distribution functions can be reproduced by the model consisting of the defective graphite-like layers with weak inter-layer correlatio ns. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.