U.P.B. Sci. Bull., Series B, Vol. 74, Iss. 1, 2012 ISSN 1454-2331 ACTIVATED MONOLITHS BASED ON CARBONACEOUS MESOPHASE Cristina BANCIU 1 , Delia PĂTROI 2 , Virgil MARINESCU 3 Materialele carbonice poroase au un domeniu larg de aplicare în multe domenii precum separarea, purificarea şi stocarea gazelor, ca suport pentru catalizatori sau ca supercapacitori. Această lucrare studiază activarea chimică a monoliţilor pe bază de mezofază carbonică. A fost studiat efectul agentului de activare (NaOH), raportului masic hidroxid de sodiu/mezofază carbonică şi forţei de presare utilizată pentru procesarea monoliţilor asupra caracteristicilor structurale ale monoliţilor de carbon activaţi. Monoliţii pe bază de mezofază carbonică activaţi au fost caracterizaţi prin microscopie optică, microscopie de forţă atomică (AFM), microscopie electronică de baleiaj (SEM) şi difracţie de raze X (XRD). Porous carbon materials have a wide application in many fields such as gas separation, purification and storage, as catalyst support, or as supercapacitors. This paper studies the chemical activation of monoliths based on carbonaceous mesophase. The effect of the activating agent (NaOH), the sodium hydroxide/carbonaceous mesophase weight ratio, and the compression force used for monoliths processing versus the structural characteristics of activated carbon monoliths, was studied. Activated monoliths based on carbonaceous mesophase have been characterized using optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Keywords: monoliths, carbonaceous mesophase, chemical activation 1. Introduction Some solids can be used to separate, to purify or to capture gases from mixtures. These solids can be zeolites or activated carbon, because of their high porosity and controlled dimensions of pores. One of the best materials seems to be 1 Chem. Eng. PhD Student, National Institute for Research and Development in Electrical Engineering ICPE-CA, Advanced Materials Department, Splaiul Unirii 313, Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: cbanciu@icpe-ca.ro 2 Phys. Eng., National Institute for Research and Development in Electrical Engineering ICPE-CA, Laboratory for Electrotechnical Materials and Products Characterization, Splaiul Unirii 313, Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: patroidelia@icpe-ca.ro 3 Phys. Eng., National Institute for Research and Development in Electrical Engineering ICPE-CA, Laboratory for Electrotechnical Materials and Products Characterization, Splaiul Unirii 313, Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: marinescu_v@icpe-ca.ro