Improvement of the adsorption properties of carbon black granules by means of plasma enhanced-chemical vapour deposition with acrylic acid vapours Original Research Article

Carbon black granules were coated by thin polymers in radio frequency glow discharges fed with acrylic acid/argon mixtures at different input powers, in order to improve the adsorption ability of basic compounds in the liquid and gas phases. The treated surfaces were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses and water contact angle measurements, performed immediately after the plasma treatment, after ageing in water and in air, and after heating up to 150 °C. The adsorption ability of basic compounds in the liquid and gas phases was evaluated with Boehm titrations and ammonia adsorption, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy observations and Brunauer, Emmett, Teller specific surface area measurements were performed to evaluate the morphological changes induced by the plasma treatments on the carbon black granule surface. The results show that the plasma treatments significantly improve the absorption ability of carbon black mainly for grafting of carboxylic groups and not for surface morphological modifications.