Physical-chemical Characterization of Nano-Zinc Oxide/Activated Carbon Composite for Phenol Removal from Aqueous Solution

Oil palm shell was used as a precursor for preparation of activated carbon using different chemical activations (potassium hydroxide (KOH), zinc chloride (ZNCl2), and phosphoric acid (H3PO4)). Each carbons (AC) mixed with nano-zinc oxide to form composite. From the gas sorption analyzer, it is showed that nitrogen adsorption isotherms show Type II ZnO/AC-KOH ZnO/AC-ZnCl2 corresponding micro- mesoporous structures, respectively. However, isotherm ZnO/AC-H3PO4 exhibits I predominantly microporous structures. The SEM micrographs produced unsmooth surface pore sizes. XRD patterns at 2θ 25.06° 26.75° were come from amorphous carbon. peak intensity ZnO weak due low concentration precursor. strongly intensity. effectiveness composites examined phenol removal determined by UV-Vis Spectrophotometer method. equilibrium follows Langmuir Freundlich models according best correlation coefficient (R2). kinetic model only obtained pseudo-second-order linearity results this study oil has great potential ZnO/AC excellent adsorptive property. Copyright © 2021 Authors, Published BCREC Group. This an open access article under CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).