Microscopic and mesoscopic structural features of an activated carbon sample, prepared from sorghum via activation by phosphoric acid

Graphical abstract: Display Omitted Highlights: ► Preparation of a new activated carbon sample from sorghum. ► Characterization by adsorption/desorption methods. ► Determination of the structure by synchrotron X-ray diffraction. ► The sample is amorphous and contains distorted graphene fragments. ► A characteristic nanoscale distance is established from the radial distribution function. -- Abstract: An acidic chemical activation procedure has been used for preparing activated carbon with a surface area exceeding 1000 m2/g from sorghum. In order to reveal structural features, synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements have been performed. The structure of the material has been characterized by the total scattering structure factor and the radial distribution function describing short-range arrangement of atoms at distances of the order of a few atomic diameters as well as correlations at a longer scale, of the order of nanometers. The atomic arrangement has been found to be consistent with that of amorphous graphite-like carbon. As far as the mesoscopic structure is concerned, the presence of a characteristic distance is suggested on the basis of the clear nanometer scale oscillations of the radial distribution function, which distance may be assigned as the mesopore size in the material. It is suggested that the approach devized here may later be applied routinely for other activated carbon samples, too, for characterizing atomic and nanoscale order simultaneously.