In this study, new carbon-based materials are prepared and tested for ammonia adsorption at ambient conditions. Characterization of the adsorbents’ texture and surface chemistry is performed before and after exposure to ammonia to identify the features responsible for high adsorption capacity and for controlling the mechanisms of retention. The characterization techniques include, nitrogen adsorption, thermal analysis, potentiometric titration, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron microscopy.