Laser-induced nitrogen and phosphorus-doped spongy carbon with graphene wings derived from lignin for significantly enhanced capacitance deionization performance

Abstract

Efficient capacitive deionization (CDI) technology puts forward higher requirements for electrode materials. However, the traditional process of preparing porous carbon (PC) electrodes by alkaline chemical activation is polluting and energy-consuming. In this work, the N/P co-doped biocarbon material (H-AL/APP) was prepared by using alkali lignin (AL) and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) as carbon precursors based on laser-induced carbonization and hydrothermal activation technology. The as-prepared carbon material shows a three-dimensional (3D) structure with a hierarchical porous structure, large specific surface area of 405.98 m2/g (SSA), excellent pore volume, and outstanding mesoporosity. Compared with commercial YP80 activated carbon, The H-AL/APP electrode exhibits a higher specific capacitance of 210F/g with excellent rate performance and cycle stability. When assembled for desalination, H-AL/APP shows the highest removal rate of 23 mg/g/min with an outstanding desalination capacity of 34.6 mg/g than those of YP80 activated carbon. Furthermore, reasonable cycle stability and reproducibility highlight their promising application prospects. In summary, this work provides a green, efficient, and economical method for preparing high-performance heteroatom-doped PCs for efficient CDI desalination.