Characterization of the surface properties of nitrogen-enriched carbons by inverse gas chromatography methods Original Research Article

The characterization of the surface properties of carbonaceous materials by inverse gas chromatography (IGC) techniques is described. The cokes investigated were produced by the co-pyrolysis of a coal-tar pitch (CTP) with different amounts of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a possible method to synthesize carbonaceous materials enriched in nitrogen. IGC at infinite dilution and LSER (linear solvation energy relationship) techniques were used to determine the physical and chemical surface properties of the cokes. In general, the surface free energy of adsorption is due to both dispersive and specific interactions. The dispersive component of the surface free energy was determined using n-alkane probes. For the specific component, which is primarily due to acid–base interactions, different polar probes were used. The LSER method was applied to improve our understanding of the adsorption process in terms of molecular interactions. We show that, to characterize dispersive interactions using n-alkanes, the LSER and IGC methods are equivalent. On the other hand, with both methods we find that all the samples present acidic and basic characteristics. However, the sensitivity of the LSER method does not allow us to discriminate between the three samples in terms of specific interactions.