Antibacterial activated carbon fiber derived from phenolic resin containing silver nitrate

A novolactype phenolic resin including 1 wt% of AgNO3 was spun, hardened, carbonized at 900°C under nitrogen and finally activated at 900°C for 10 and 60 min under steam. The resulting fibers showed specific N2-BET surface areas of 280 and 1,940 m2/g, respectively. The latter contained 2.2 wt% of the silver particles of which the largest size was several 100 nm and showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. After soaking in the flowing tap water for 20 days, this fiber lost one third of silver but kept the antibacterial activity.