Activated Charcoal for Smelly Feet
by Dr. Roseline Hamsley

I’m sure some of you would have heard of products for smelly feet that use activated charcoal as an active element. Without going into too much detail on its manufacturing process, activated charcoal as a property which basically absorbs odors and in our case foot odors very effectively.

Activated charcoal, also called activated carbon or activated coal, is a general term which covers carbon material mostly derived from charcoal. For all three variations of the name, "activated" is sometimes substituted with "active". By any name, it is a material with an exceptionally high surface area which incidentally is part of the reason why it can absorb such large amounts of odor. Just one gram of activated carbon has the surface area of approximately two tennis courts, typically determined by nitrogen gas adsorption, and includes a large amount of microporosity. Sufficient activation for useful applications may come solely from the high surface area, though often further chemical treatments are used to enhance the absorbing properties of the material.

A gram of activated carbon may have a surface area in excess of 400 m², with 1500 m² being readily achievable. For comparison, a tennis court is about 260 m². Carbon aerogels, while more expensive, have even higher surface areas, and are used in special applications and is also available for use as an odor absorbent materials for the in-soles of shoes.

Under an electron microscope, the structure of activated carbon looks a little like ribbons of paper which have been crumpled together, intermingled with wood chips. There are a great number of nooks and crannies, and many areas where flat surfaces of graphite-like material run parallel to each other, separated by only a few nanometers or so. These micropores provide superb conditions for adsorption to occur, since adsorbing material can interact with many surfaces simultaneously.

 Activated Charcoal for Smelly Feet: Part 2