The adsorpton/desorption isotherms of N2 at 77K on metallic silver/activated carbons after acid treatment are Type I with a small amount of capillary condensation hysteresis. From the Pore Size Distribution (PSD) calculated for our materials using the density functional theory, these also confirm our hypothesis that the source of the microporosity is the metallic silver on the activated carbon surfaces after acid treatments. In the case of SEM results, one can observe the highly developed surface structures, and homogeneously distributed metals on the carbon surfaces. The IR spectra of metallic silver/activated carbons show that the acid treatment is associated with the homogeneous distribution of metal with the increased surface acidity of the activated carbons. The effect of surface acidity and basity calculated from the Boehm titration method was also evaluated from correlations as a function of NaOH, NaHCO3 and Na2CO3 uptake. Finally, the results of typical EDX elemental microanalysis of Ag/activated carbons after acid treatment show spectra for almost all samples rich in silver with an increasing amount of acid treatment.

Keywords: adsorption/desorption isotherm, silver/activated carbon, SEM, Boehm titration, EDX