ABSTRACT
Activated carbon is a traditional but modern synthetic material which also known as carbon molecular sieve. The main raw materials can be every carbon-rich organic materials. It is a highly versatile industrial adsorbents with the properties of strong adsorption and porous, the specific surface area of normal activated carbon is 500∼1700 m2/g. Activated carbon adsorption is physical adsorption (due to pore structure) and chemical adsorption (due to surface functional groups) double adsorption. The surface functional groups contain oxygen-containing groups which can absorb rare earth metal ions in water. The ways of modifying activated carbon always limit to disposable modified that almost only increase the void structure or the number of surface oxygen-containing groups which conducive to the adsorption of rare earth metal ions in water. Multi-step modification of activated carbon not only can increase the void structure, but also the number and type of groups on the suface of activated carbon.
