Radial distribution function analysis of the structure of activated carbons Original Research Article

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-angle neutron scattering. The intensity measurements, extended to Q values of 50 Å−1 yielded the radial distribution functions with the real space resolution of about 0.12 Å. The obtained results show that the structural features of the investigated materials are not affected by the activation process. All well-defined peaks of the radial distribution functions can be reproduced by the model consisting of the defective graphite-like layers with weak inter-layer correlations.