LAUSR

Porous carbons have been widely explored and utilized in the fields of adsorption. Pore structure design is the key for achieving high-capacity and fast adsorption. Herein, we develop a simple and general method for pore regulation of coal-based activated carbons (ACs), which is based on a catalytic physical activation process by using the inherent minerals in coal precursor. By adjusting the inherent mineral distribution in the coal precursors, activated carbons with various pore configurations including microporous structure and hierarchically porous structure can be obtained. More specifically, ZD-HCF-AC from a mineral-free coal precursor shows a microporous structure with a low surface area of 345 m2 g–1, while ZD-AC from mineral-rich coal exhibits a hierarchically porous structure with remarkably improved surface area of 933 m2 g–1. Ca and Mg components in the minerals notably promote the development of mesopore and macropores and lead to the resulting ACs with hierarchical pore structure. The effect...