DOI: 10.1142/S0217979211100059 International Journal of Modern Physics B Vol. 25, No. 10 (2011) 1377–1383 c  World Scientific Publishing Company STRUCTURAL EFFECTS OF SKS ACTIVE CARBON MODIFICATION WITH MELAMINE, STUDIED BY SEM, TEM, EDX AND QUANTUM-CHEMICAL SIMULATIONS VOLODYMYR D. KHAVRYUCHENKO Institute for Sorption and Problems of Endoecology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Gen. Naumova Street 17, Kiev 03167, Ukraine vkhavr@rambler.ru OLEKSIY V. KHAVRYUCHENKO * , ANDRIY I. SHKILNYY and VLADYSLAV V. LISNYAK Chemical Department, Kiev National Taras Shevchenko University, Volodymyrska Street 64, Kiev 01033, Ukraine * alexk@univ.kiev.ua DENYS A. STRATIICHUK Institute for Superhard Materials, National Academy of Science of Ukraine, 2 Avtozavodska Str., UA-04074, Kyiv, Ukraine Received 8 October 2009 Revised 13 May 2010 SKS active carbon treated with melamine (SKS-N) was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), and quantum-chemical (QC) simulations. The influence of mild oxidation in the structure of the SKS-N and the ways of melamine incorporation into the graphene system of carbon are demonstrated. Keywords : Active carbon; nitrogen-containing carbons; electron microscopy (SEM, TEM); computer modeling and simulation. 1. Introduction Nitrogen-doped (N-doped) active carbons (ACs) are distinguished among carbon materials (CMs) for their enhanced catalytic properties. 1–13 One of the commonly used ways to produce the N-doped CMs is an activation of the neat carbon ma- terial with N-containing modifier (e.g., NH 3 , urea or melamine) and successive thermal treatment. 4–6,8–11 Recently, a series of works on oxidative preactivation of bituminous carbons, 8,13 carbon fibers, 4 char from phenol-formaldehyde resin 4 and * Present address: Department of Chemical and Biotechnological Engineering, Universit´ e de Sherbrooke, 2500, blvd de l’Univerist´ e, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, J1K2R1. 1377 Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 2011.25:1377-1383. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SAP PAULO on 07/29/13. For personal use only.