Activated carbon refers to a wide range of carbonised materials of high degree of porosity and high surface area. Activated carbon has many applications in the environment and industry for the removal, retrieval, separation and modification of various compounds in liquid and gas phases. Selection of the chemical activator agent is a major step controlling the performance and applicability of activated carbon. Here, we review chemical activators used to produce activated carbon. We compare the impregnation method with the physical mixing method used in activating with alkali hydroxides. We selected 81 articles from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Embase and Medlin databases. Eighteen articles report the activation with potassium hydroxide, 17 with phosphoric acid, 15 with zinc chloride, 11 with potassium carbonate, nine with sodium hydroxide, and 11 with new activating agents. Activation with phosphoric acid is commonly used for lignocellulosic material and at lower temperatures. Zinc chloride generates more surface area than phosphoric acid but is used less due to environmental concerns. Potassium carbonate, in comparison with potassium hydroxide, produces higher yields and a higher surface area for the adsorption of large pollutant molecules such as dyes. Activating with potassium hydroxide in terms of surface area and efficiency shows better results than sodium hydroxide for various applications. Also, the comparison of the physical mixing method and the impregnation method in activation with alkali metals indicates that the activated carbon obtained through physical mixing had a higher porosity than the activated carbon produced by the impregnation method.

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活性炭的制备和活化方法：综述

活性炭是指具有高孔隙率和高表面积的多种碳化材料。活性炭在环境和工业中具有许多应用，可用于去除，回收，分离和改性液相和气相中的各种化合物。化学活化剂的选择是控制活性炭性能和适用性的主要步骤。在这里，我们回顾用于生产活性炭的化学活化剂。我们将浸渍法与物理混合法进行了碱氢氧化物活化的比较。我们从Google Scholar，PubMed，Scopus，Science Direct，Embase和Medlin数据库中选择了81篇文章。有18篇文章报道了用氢氧化钾活化，用磷酸活化17，用氯化锌活化15，用碳酸钾活化11，九种使用氢氧化钠，十一种使用新的活化剂。磷酸活化通常用于木质纤维素材料，且温度较低。氯化锌比磷酸产生更多的表面积，但是由于环境方面的考虑，使用较少。与氢氧化钾相比，碳酸钾可产生较高的收率和较大的表面积，以吸附较大的污染物分子，例如染料。就各种应用而言，就表面积和效率而言，用氢氧化钾进行活化显示出比氢氧化钠更好的结果。也，