Sorption of carbendazim on activated carbons derived from rape straw and its mechanism†

Abstract Due to the production and widespread application of pesticides, pesticide pollution poses a potential danger to human health and the ecosystem. Herein, activated carbons employing rape straw as a precursor were produced using H3PO4 as an activating agent at various temperatures (300–600 °C). The activated carbons differed with respect to the physicochemical properties, which were derived from elemental analysis, N2 sorption–desorption, FTIR, XPS, XRD, pHpzc, Boehm titration and blocking of the oxygen-containing groups. The oxygen-containing functional groups and the