Enhancement effect of potassium ferrate on self-activation: Significant improvement in pore structure and adsorption performance of activated carbon

This work developed a method using bamboo shoot shells as raw material to produce Fe-modified ACs combining self-activation and chemical modification. Adding small amounts (0.5–5 %) of K 2 FeO 4 accelerated the pyrolysis process and CO 2 release, and reduced the activation energy and temperature of self-activation reaction. This increased the reaction rate and activation efficiency, ultimately significantly improving the pore structure of ACs. The addition of 3 % K 2 FeO 4 resulted in a substantial increase in specific surface area and pore volume of AC, from 1340 m 2 /g and 0.72 cm 3 /g to 2184 m 2 /g and 1.34 cm 3 /g, respectively. Additionally, the introduction of K 2 FeO 4 also enabled iron doping on the surface of the ACs. The improvement of pore structure and iron doping further enhanced the adsorption performance of ACs. The adsorption capacities of ACs for arsenate, ibuprofen, and tetracycline were up to 1.64, 1.50, and 2.38 times higher, respectively, than those of ACs prepared through conventional self-activation.