New phosphorus-containing spherical carbon adsorbents as promising materials in drug adsorption and release

A simple method of preparation of new high surface area spherical carbon adsorbents is presented. The phosphoric acid activation upon hydrothermally formed spherules was employed to produce carbons having controlled high specific surface area (over 2100 m2/g), large volumes of pores (1.2 cm3/g), and high acidity. Prepared from sucrose materials show high adsorption capacities (i.e. 220 mg/gC) toward paracetamol. It is proved that for these materials the contents of surface phosphorus are responsible for the reversibility of drug adsorption/release process.

Graphical abstractSEM picture of SCA sample (insert shows a spherical carbon granule).Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (45 K)Download as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights► Phosphoric acid activation of hydrothermally formed spherules creates high surface area carbons. ► Despite of high surface acidity SCAs adsorb pac in large extent with high reversibility. ► Adsorption reversibility depends linearly on the amount of surface phosphorus.