The adsorption properties of activated carbon depend not only on their pore structure, but also on their chemical composition and structure.In addition to carbon, activated carbon also contains two types of blends, one is chemically bound elements, mainly hydrogen and oxygen.These elements remain in the carbon due to the incomplete carbonization of the raw material; or during the activation process, the chemical binding of foreign non-carbon elements to the carbon surface, such as when activated with water vapor, the carbon surface is oxidized, and the other type of blend is ash.

On the surface of activated carbon, the adsorption force mainly depends on the dispersion force in the Van der Waals force and the changes in the basic microcrystalline structure.For example, when there is an incomplete graphite layer in the microcrystalline, the arrangement of electron clouds in the carbon skeleton will be significantly changed.Therefore, incomplete saturation of the valence or the appearance of unpaired electrons will have an impact on the adsorption properties of activated carbon, especially for polar substances or polarizable substances.Another effect is that the presence of non-carbon atoms in the carbon structure will have a significant impact on the adsorption performance of activated carbon.Van der Waals forces include three kinds of forces: orientation force, induction force, and dispersion force.The orientation force refers to the positive and negative electrical attraction between the fixed dipoles of two polar molecules; the inductive force refers to the force generated by the fixed dipole of a polar molecule inducing a non-polar molecule to produce an instantaneous dipole; and the dispersion force is achieved by the attraction of two non-polar molecules after the two instantaneous dipoles are generated by the movement of their respective electrons.In molecular compounds, most intermolecular forces are achieved by dispersive forces.