Impregnated Activated Carbon Made from Buffalo Dung: Electrical and Photoluminescence Investigations

Suher M Dawoud¹, Mouayed A Hussein^1, and Raed K Zaidan¹

¹Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Basrah, Iraq

Cite this paper:
Suher M Dawoud, Mouayed A Hussein and Raed K Zaidan. Impregnated Activated Carbon Made from Buffalo Dung: Electrical and Photoluminescence Investigations. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2023; 11(2):42-53. doi: 10.12691/aees-11-2-1

Abstract

Activated carbon was made from buffalo dung. The carbon was activated by KOH that of char: KOH: H₂O is 3:4:5. The obtained AC was modified with 5% of Selenium, Bismuth and zirconium. For the obtained samples, the nitrogen adsorption- desorption isotherm, surface area, total volume, micro volume and the mean pore diameter were characterized by Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), the pore size distribution was characterized by Barrett Joyner Halenda (BJH), the surface morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the elemental composition was characterized by energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX), and the crystallographic structure was characterized by X-rays Diffraction (XRD). The obtained results have been revealed higher amount of pores in mesoporous region (2-50 nm) and few pores in microporous region (> 2 nm). The XRD and SEM showed the crystallinity of modified ACs is increased compare to the ACs. The EDX showed successfully modification of ACs with Se, Bi and Zr. The electrical properties of the samples were investigated by four point probe method. The resistance (R), standard resistivity (ρ₀) and conductivity (σ) were extracted. Moreover, the galvanostatic charge discharge profiles of the samples were also investigated. The obtained results exhibited that small amount quantity of charge (Q) passes through AC compared to its modified peers. The quantum dot technology was used to investigate the optical property of AC. The method was accomplished by UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence emission. The UV–Vis spectrum showed an absorption band at 275 nm and the fluorescence emission shows a green photoluminescence emission at 480 nm. The obtained photoluminescence property reveals it may be useful as an accurate nanotechnology for cancer detection and energy-transfer compound in photocatalytic applications.

Keywords:
activated carbon 4-point probe resistivity quantum dot photoluminescence

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