Indoor formaldehyde removal over CMK-3

The removal of formaldehyde at low concentrations is important in indoor air pollution research. In this study, mesoporous carbon with a large specific surface area was used for the adsorption of low-concentration indoor formaldehyde. A mesoporous carbon material, CMK-3, was synthesized using the nano-replication method. SBA-15 was used as a mesoporous template. The surface of CMK-3 was activated using a 2N H(2)SO(4 )solution and NH(3 )gas to prepare CMK-3-H(2)SO(4 )and CMK-3-NH(3), respectively. The activated samples were characterized by N(2 )adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The formaldehyde adsorption performance of the mesoporous carbons was in the order of CMK-3-NH(3 )> CMK-3-H(2)SO(4 )> CMK-3. The difference in the adsorption performance was explained by oxygen and nitrogen functional groups formed during the activation process and by the specific surface area and pore structure of mesoporous carbon.