Nitrogen doping and porous tuning carbon derived from waste biomass boosting for toluene capture: Experimental study and density functional theory simulation

Abstract

Porous carbon materials derived from waste biomass are promising adsorbents for volatile organic compounds. However, it is still difficult to achieve optimal control of the carbon pore structure. In this study, a nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NPC) material with ultra-high surface area (3235 m2/g) and ultra-large pore volume (2.00 cm3/g) was prepared. The adsorption capacity of toluene on NPC (691.1 mg/g, 1000 ppm, 303 K) was significantly higher than previous studies. In addition, the correlations between surface area and adsorption capacity, as well as relative content of nitrogen and adsorption capacity elucidated that the adsorption process was dominated by the filling of micropores. Density functional theory simulation and poisoning experiments proved that pyridine-N as the active center promoted the adsorption capacity through π-π interaction. This work provided new insights into the resource utilization of waste biomass and the exploration of high-efficiency purification technologies for volatile organic pollutants.