Tuning Microporosity in Pterospermum acerifolium derived Activated Carbons for CO2 capture: Influence of KOH and H3PO4 activation on Adsorption Performance | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Tuning Microporosity in Pterospermum acerifolium derived Activated Carbons for CO 2 capture: Influence of KOH and H 3 PO 4 activation on Adsorption Performance Arpita Sahoo, Susmita Mishra This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9664512/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Sustainable carbon-based adsorbents derived from under-utilized biomass are gaining increasing attention for CO2 capture owning to their tunable pore structure and surface chemistry. In this study, Pterospermum acerifolium were prepared via H3PO4 and KOH activation and comparatively evaluated to elucidate structure performance relationships. Ultimate analysis, Thermogravimetric analysis, Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Spectroscopy analysis were carried out for activated carbons to understand its physicochemical properties. At 298K and 1 bar, the KOH-activated carbon achieved a CO2 uptake of 3.35mmol/g, exceeding that of the H3PO4-activated carbon. Equilibrium data were best described by the Sips model, while kinetics analysis followed pseudo-first order behaviour, indicating physisorption dominance. Furthermore, KOH-activated carbon retained approximately 96% of its initial capacity after 20 cycles and achieved 18.53 mmol/g at 30⁰C and 30 bar. These findings highlight the critical role of activation strategy in tailoring pore structure and optimizing CO2 adsorption performance of biomass-derived activated carbons. Activated carbon CO2 adsorption Sustainable adsorbents Physisorption Sips model Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 14 May, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 14 May, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 13 May, 2026 First submitted to journal 09 May, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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