Preparation of Stellera chamaejasme L. mesoporous activated carbon by rubidium chloride chemical method

To make use of rubidium salt resources in the Qinghai Salt Lake and to valorize Stellera chamaejasme L., mesoporous activated carbon was prepared by a chemical activation method using rubidium chloride as an activator. Using methylene blue and iodine as pollutant models, the adsorption capacity of mesoporous activated carbon was determined. The specific surface area, pore structure, and surface functional groups of mesoporous activated carbon were determined using a fully automated specific surface area analyzer, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Raman spectrometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT- IR), and an X-ray electron spectrometer (XPS). The surface functional groups of mesoporous activated carbon were found to be mainly comprised of carbon and oxygen. The mesoporous activated carbon had a certain graphitized microcrystalline structure. The carbon yield of the mesoporous activated carbon was 13.55% ± 0.41%, the specific surface area was 877.02 m2/g, the adsorption amount of iodine, 891.35 mg/g, and the adsorption amount of methylene blue, 256.95 mg/g. The dominant pore size was 0.945 nm, the average pore size was 2.43 nm, and the pore volume was 0.26 cm3/g.