Modification of carbon black by thermal treatment in air atmosphere

We modified carbon black (CB) with a large surface area (ENSACO 350 GRANULAR) by acetone and further thermal treatment. The pristine and the modified CB were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The acetone treatment increases the content of oxygen-containing radicals in CB. The thermal annealing was performed at temperatures ranging from 250 degrees C to 1080 degrees C for three hours in air atmosphere. The powder XRD patterns revealed that the broad complex peak centered at about 2 theta = 24.7 - 24.8 degrees, which arises from graphitic-ordered sp(2)-hybridized carbon, shifts to its usual position at 2 theta = 26.2 degrees as the annealing temperature is increased. We concluded that the above results pointed to a relative decrease in the number of 3D graphitic nano-crystals and an increase in the predominantly 2D ones. The Raman studies confirmed the above conclusions.