Biomass-derived Nitrogen-doped Porous Carbon Research Articles

Encapsulating Selenium into Biomass-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon As the Cathode for Sodium–Selenium and Potassium–Selenium Batteries

Encapsulating Selenium into Biomass-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon As the Cathode for Sodium–Selenium and Potassium–Selenium Batteries

Iron Active Center Coordination Reconstruction in Iron Carbide Modified on Porous Carbon for Superior Overall Water Splitting.

In this work, a novel liquid nitrogen quenching strategy is engineered to fulfill iron active center coordination reconstruction within iron carbide (Fe3C) modified on biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NC) for initiating rapid hydrogen and oxygen evolution, where the chrysanthemum tea (elm seeds, corn leaves, and shaddock peel, etc.) is treated as biomass carbon source within Fe3C and NC. Moreover, the original thermodynamic stability is changed through the corresponding force generated by liquid nitrogen quenching and the phase transformation is induced with rich carbon vacancies with the increasing instantaneous temperature drop amplitude. Noteworthy, the optimizing intermediate absorption/desorption is achieved by new phases, Fe coordination, and carbon vacancies. The Fe3C/NC-550 (550 refers to quenching temperature) demonstrates outstanding overpotential for hydrogen evolution reaction (26.3mV at -10 mAcm-2) and oxygen evolution reaction (281.4 mV at 10mAcm-2), favorable overall water splitting activity (1.57 V at 10 mAcm-2). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further confirm that liquid nitrogen quenching treatment can enhance the intrinsic electrocatalytic activity efficiently by optimizing the adsorption free energy of reaction intermediates. Overall, the above results authenticate that liquid nitrogen quenching strategy open up new possibilities for obtaining highly active electrocatalysts for the new generation of green energy conversion systems.

Low-cost pyrolysis of biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon: Chlorella vulgaris replaces melamine as a nitrogen source.

Porous carbon generated from biomass has a rich pore structure, is inexpensive, and has a lot of promise for use as a carbon material for energy storage devices. In this work, nitrogen-doped porous carbon was prepared by co-pyrolysis using bagasse as the precursor and chlorella as the nitrogen source. ZnCl2 acts as both an activator and a nitrogen fixer during activation to generate pores and reduce nitrogen loss. The thermal weight loss experiments showed that the pyrolysis temperatures of bagasse and chlorella overlap, which created the possibility for the synthesis of nitrogen-rich biochar. The optimum sample (ZBC@C-5) possessed a surface area of 1508 m2g-1 with abundant nitrogen-containing functional groups. ZBC@C-5 in the three-electrode system exhibited 244.1F/g at 0.5A/g, which was extremely close to ZBC@M made with melamine as the nitrogen source. This provides new opportunities for the use of low-cost nitrogen sources. Furthermore, the devices exhibit better voltage retention (39%) and capacitance retention (96.3%). The goal of this research is to find a low cost, and effective method for creating nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials with better electrochemical performance for highly valuable applications using bagasse and chlorella.

Surface-coated AlF3 nanolayers enable polysulfide confinement within biomass-derived nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon microspheres for improved lithium-sulfur batteries

The electrically insulating and volumetric deformation of sulfur and the shuttle effect of the intermediate lithium polysulfide (LiPSs) have severely hindered the development of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). Herein, a synergistic strategy of hierarchical porous nitrogen-doped carbon microspheres (PNCM) derived from low-cost biomass with surface-coated AlF3 nanolayer as a multifunctional sulfur host (denoted as PNCM@S@AlF3) was developed. The PNCM not only possesses an abundant pore structure, large surface area, and high electrical conductivity but also features an intrinsic N-doped and fluorinated framework, which effectively enhances the physical adsorption and chemical anchoring to LiPSs. In addition, the AlF3 nanolayer protects the open surface of the porous carbon to isolate sulfur species from the electrolyte to reduce irreversible losses while accelerating the redox kinetics of LiPSs through strong polar adsorption and bonding. Hence, the PNCM@S@AlF3 cathode exhibits an initial capacity as high as 1176.2 mAh/g at 0.2C, and the cycling stability and rate capability are superior to that of PNCM@S without AlF3 coating. Impressively, the PNCM@S@AlF3 cathode delivers stable long-term cycling performance at a high rate of 2C, with 95.6% capacity retention after 500 cycles. This work presents a facile, sustainable, and efficient synergistic strategy for developing advanced LSBs.

Polyacrylonitrile-sodium lignosulfonate -derived nitrogen-doped three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon for supercapacitors

Modulation of pore structure and heteroatom doping are very important strategies to improve the electrochemical properties of carbon electrode materials. This report investigates the use of biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials to address the challenge of the specific capacitance and energy density in supercapacitors. Nitrogen-doped three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon materials were prepared using a polyacrylonitrile/sodium lignosulfonate composite monolith as a precursor by thermally induced phase separation and subsequent carbonization/activation. This method precisely controls the structure and surface properties of porous carbon materials by regulating the structure of the precursor and situ doping of nitrogen, which is a valuable strategy for the controllable regulation of the pore structure for nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials. The resulting carbon material displayed excellent capacitance performance, exhibiting a high specific capacitance of 325.7F g -1 at a current density of 0.5 A/g, maintaining initial capacitance retention of 90.1 % at a current density of 5 A/g after 10,000 cycles. When investigated for practical applications, the assembled supercapacitor device had a higher energy density (9.88 W h kg- 1), which is higher than commercial carbon-based supercapacitors.

Adsorption of multicomponent VOCs on various biomass-derived hierarchical porous carbon: A study on adsorption mechanism and competitive effect

Biomass-derived porous carbon materials are potential adsorbents for VOCs. In this work, biomass-derived nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbons (NHPCs) were synthesized by a one-step pyrolysis activation combined with nitrogen doping method from several biomass wastes (corn straw, wheat stalk, bamboo, pine, and corncob). NHPCs have a hierarchical porous structure with micro-meso-macropores distribution, nitrogen doping, large specific surface area, and pore volume. The corncob derived carbon (NHPC-CC) has the best activation result as analyses showed that a lower ash content and higher total cellulose composition content of the biomass result in a better pore activation effect. Single and multi-component dynamic adsorption tests of typical VOCs (benzene, toluene, and chlorobenzene) were conducted on NHPCs in laboratory conditions (∼500 ppm). Promising VOC adsorption capacity and great adsorption kinetics with low mass transfer resistance were found on NHPCs. Correlation analysis showed that the high VOC adsorption capacity and great adsorption kinetics can be attributed to the large surface area of micro-mesopores and the mass transfer channels provided by meso-macropores respectively. The competitive dynamic adsorption tests revealed that the VOC with lower saturated vapor pressure has more adsorption sites on the surface of micro-mesopores and stronger adsorption force, which results in the higher adsorption capacity and desorption caused by substitution reaction in VOCs competitive adsorption process. In detail, the process of toluene and chlorobenzene competitive adsorption was described. Besides, well recyclability of NHPC-CC was revealed as the VOCs adsorption capacity reductions were less than 10% after four adsorption-desorption cycles. All studies showed that the NHPC-CC could be potential adsorbent for VOCs in industrial process.

Recent progress in the development of biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon

Synthesis of biomass-derived N-doped porous carbon for energy storage and catalysis applications is a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach.

Biomass-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbons Activated by Magnesium Chloride as Ultrahigh-Performance Supercapacitors

Porous carbons with high capacitive properties derived from biomass have been increasingly studied for supercapacitor applications. In this work, we prepared N-doped porous carbon through a one-pot...

Ni-Co layered double hydroxide nanosheet array on nickel foam coated graphene for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors

Ni-Co layered double hydroxide (Ni-Co LDH) nanosheet is a promising electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors, but it has low specific capacity and poor rate performance due to its low conductivity. In this paper, a high specific surface area zeolite-based metal organic framework (MOF) dodecahedral cobalt-based nanomaterial (ZIF-67) was used as a cobalt source and a sacrificial template. The ZIF-67 template was etched by the hydrolysis of Ni2+ at room temperature; LDH materials are coprecipitated in solution. The material has a hierarchical structure of interdigitated nanosheet arrays, and the ordered nanosheet array facilitates effective contact of the active material with the electrolyte and rapid diffusion of ions. The conductive graphene is coated on the foamed nickel (rGO/NF) to form an excellent conductive structural support, thereby accelerating the transmission of electrons on the substrate. At a current density of 1 A g−1, the specific capacitance of Ni-Co LDH/rGO/NF is as high as 2505 F g−1. When the current density is increased to 20 A g−1, the capacity retention can reach 81%. An asymmetric capacitor was assembled by using Ni-Co LDH/rGO/NF as the positive electrode and biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon (QPC) as the negative electrode with an operating voltage range of 0–1.5 V. The Ni-Co LDH/rGO/NF//QPC asymmetric supercapacitor has an energy density of 76 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 747.5 W kg−1. When the power density reaches 7486.6 W kg−1, the energy density is still 35 Wh kg−1.

Biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbons with ultra-high surface area for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction

Highly efficient and stable metal-free Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) catalyst is derived from low-cost and green biomass, the plum blossom. After activating with KOH and doping with N via introduction of melamine followed by high-temperature treatment, the obtained porous carbon exhibits unique honeycomb like structure and ultra-high surface area of up to 2118.9 m 2 g −1 together with multiple N coordination in carbon matrix. These characteristics endow the as-prepared electrocatalysts with high catalytic activity ( E 1/2 = 0.82 V and J L = 5.96 mA cm −2 ) as well as outstanding long-term stability (current retention of 91.2% after 50,000 s) and methanol tolerance in alkaline media. Consequently, it is of immense significance to fabricate novel ORR catalysts derived from biomass in the evolvement of fuel cells. A nitrogen-doped porous carbon material was prepared from fallen plum blossom by chemical activation and post-treatment. Applied in the field of electrochemistry, the catalyst showed good oxygen reduction reaction performance. • The carbon-based metal-free electrocatalysts were derived from natural plum blossoms. • The PBC-A catalysts with homogeneous micro/ meso /macroporous structure and extremely large surface area were synthesized. • The PBC-A catalysts possesses high ORR performance in alkaline solution. • The PBC-A catalysts realizes a good long-time stability (current retention of 91.2% after 50,000 s) and methanol tolerance.

Biomass-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon for Highly Efficient Ambient Electro-Synthesis of NH3

In this communication, we report a biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon (named as NC-800) as an electrocatalyst for the ambient conversion of N2 to NH3. The catalyst NC-800 was prepared from naturally renewable and easily available bamboo shoots, with inherently an approximate 8 wt % of N-containing components, such as the N source, in a cost-effective and environmentally benign manner. This exhibited remarkable catalytic activity with a large NH3 yield and a Faradaic efficiency as high as 16.3 μg h−mg-1cat and 27.5%, respectively, at −0.35 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in 0.1 M HCl solution at ambient conditions. More importantly, the catalyst NC-800 demonstrated excellent electrochemical selectivity and stability.

Hierarchical porous carbon as a highly efficient adsorbent for toluene and benzene

With the development of economy and the improvement of environmental protection awareness, more pollutants such as the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) need be controlled from coal-combustion flue gas. In this work, a biomass-derived nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon (NHPC) used as a versatile sorbent material, and the effect that the hierarchical porous structure (micro-meso-macropores) and the surface nitrogen functional groups of the NHPC have on the adsorption of two VOCs (toluene and benzene) have been studied. The optimum calcination temperature is 900℃ for both NHPC and HPC (none-doped hierarchical porous carbon), which have the highest specific surface area and micropore volume. The NHPC presents a higher adsorption capacity for toluene (272 mg/g) and benzene (151 mg/g) than those of HPC and AC. By contrasting the NHPC and HPC, the facilitation of NHPC surface nitrogen species on adsorption capacity can be predicted. In the case of HPC and AC, it is believed that the 3D-interconnectd framework also has a unique acceleration effect on adsorption rate. The upgrading of NHPC adsorption performance depends on both nitrogen content and pore structure. Based on the facile preparation process and high adsorption capacity, the biomass-derived hierarchical porous carbon could have promising widespread applications in removing the organic pollutants from coal-combustion flue gas.

Biomass-derived nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon as efficient sulfur host for lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery is a potential energy storage technology with high energy density and low cost. However, the gap between theoretical expectation and practical performance limits its wide implementation. Herein, we report a nitrogen-doped porous carbon derived from biomass pomelo peel as sulfur host material for Li–S batteries. The hierarchical porous architecture and the polar surface introduced by N-doping render a favorable combination of physical and chemical sulfur confinements as well as an expedite electron/ion transfer, thus contributing to a facilitated and stabilized sulfur electrochemistry. As a result, the corresponding sulfur composite electrodes exhibit an ultrahigh initial capacity of 1534.6 mAh g−1, high coulombic efficiency over 98% upon 300 cycles, and decent rate capability up to 2 C. This work provides an economical and effective strategy for the fabrication of advanced carbonaceous sulfur host material as well as the significant improvement of Li–S battery performance.

Synthesis of Biomass-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheests for High-Performance Supercapacitors

Graphene-like two-dimensional carbon nanosheets with properly modulated compositions and porosity are of particular importance for robust capacitance harvesting. Nevertheless, the large-scale and cost-effective production of such nanostructures still remains a great challenge. Herein, we innovatively produce nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets using pine nut shells, an abundant biomass waste, as the precursor, under the synergetic effect of KOH and melamine during the activation process. The sole activation of the precursors with KOH can produce only traditional activated carbon particles of several micrometers, while interestingly, the extra introduction of melamine results in nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets possessing high tunability. By construction of a two-electrode configuration, the supercapacitors with optimal nanosheets as the electrode materials can deliver a superior specific capacitance of 324 F g –1 at 0.05 A g–1, outstanding rate capability of 258 F g–1 at 20 A g–1, and extraordi...

Biomass-derived porous carbon supported Co[sbnd]CoO yolk-shell nanoparticles as enhanced multifunctional electrocatalysts

Developing highly efficient, durable and low-cost electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in energy conversion and storage is still required, urgent and challenging. Herein, a novel structure of biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon supported yolk-shell CoCoO nanoparticles (yolk-shell CoCoO/BC) was successfully prepared via a facile impregnation strategy. The pyrolysis temperature and heating rate of Co2+/BC composite are two key factors in the formation of the yolk-shell structure. The synthesized yolk-shell CoCoO/BC exhibits excellent electrochemical activity and stability as multifunctional electrocatalysts. The yolk-shell CoCoO/C with a positive onset potential (0.91 V vs. RHE) and half-wave potential (0.82 V vs. RHE) exhibits an effective 4-electron transfer path and excellent methanol tolerance in alkaline electrolyte for ORR. Moreover, a low cell potential (η10 = 1.77 V vs. RHE at the current density of 10 mA cm−2) for overall water splitting can be reached. The synergistic catalytic effects between BC support and yolk-shell CoCoO nanoparticles should be responsible for the excellent performance for ORR, OER and HER. This work opens up a way to the facile fabrication of carbon supported yolk-shell nanostructures with high-performance in electrocatalytic applications for ORR, OER and HER.

Ambient Electrosynthesis of Ammonia on a Biomass-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Electrocatalyst: Contribution of Pyridinic Nitrogen

Here we report that alfalfa-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NPC) fabricated by a pyrolysis method is electrochemically active for the N2 reduction reaction (NRR) at ambient conditions. The results demonstrate that the obtained NPC material with a nitrogen content of 6.35 atom % at 500 °C (NPC-500) exhibits high NRR activity with an NH3 yield rate of 1.31 mmol h–1 g–1cat. and a Faradaic efficiency of 9.98% at −0.4 V (vs RHE) in 0.005 M H2SO4 solution. The isotopic labeling experimental results using 15N2 feed gas and 15NPC-500 reveal that the yielded NH3 indeed resulted from the NPC-500 catalyzed NRR, and the doped pyridinic-N also contributes NH3 formation during NRR. The experimental and theoretical calculations results indicate that the doped pyridinic-N in the NPC catalyst during NRR can break away from its surface to form N vacancies in a carbon matrix as the catalytic active sites for N2 adsorption and activation.

A biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon for high-energy supercapacitor

In present work, a novel strategy combining the nitrogen-functionalization and pore structure controlling was developed to prepare nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbons (NHPCs) from a bio-decomposited product. This strategy was realized by introducing nitrogen species into the carbon precursor to afford CN forms, which would react with the K-species and thus enhance the carbon etching to improve the pore structure development. The final NHPCs obtained by this strategy not only have a high nitrogen content of 5 at %, but also deliver specific surface area up to 3142 m2 g−1 and total pore volume close to 2.6 m3 g−1. Benefited from the chemical composition and improved pore structure, the NHPCs electrodes exhibit an impressive capacitive performance in ionic liquid electrolyte with high specific capacity (209 F g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 and 148 F g−1 at 20 A g−1), enhanced energy density (up to 88 W h kg−1) and superior cyclic stability (a capacitance loss of 9% after 10000 cycles). The desirable electrochemical performance combined with the green and low-cost precursor and the simple and scalable synthesis route make the NHPCs sample a promising candidate for high-energy supercapacitor.

Nitrogen-doped porous carbons with ultrahigh specific surface area as bifunctional materials for dye removal of wastewater and supercapacitors

In this work, the nitrogen-doped porous carbon (PCM-K) with ultrahigh specific surface areas has been prepared successfully by using biomass pine nut shell as a precursor. The as-synthesized PCM-K exhibits an ultrahigh specific surface area of 3376.1 m2·g−1, a large pore volume of 1.655 cm3·g−1 and a high nitrogen content of 6.25%. By exploring the removal ability of PCM-K for cationic dye methylene blue (MB) in wastewater, and examining the effects of various experimental factors, such as contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage and temperature on the MB removal from wastewater, it is found that the PCM-K not only exhibits excellent MB adsorption capacity of 766.9 mg·g−1, which is higher than 704.3 mg·g−1 of rhodamine B and 408.7 mg·g−1 of methyl orange, but also shows almost 100% removal efficiency of MB from wastewater. Owing to the high nitrogen content, the PCM-K also exhibits excellent electrochemical performance as supercapacitors. Galvanostatic charging–discharging measurements showed that the specific capacitance of PCM-K in a three-electrode system reaches 376.4 F·g−1 in 6 M KOH and at a current density of 0.1 A·g−1. The excellent dye removal and electrochemical performances suggest that the biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbons is a promising candidate for wastewater treatment and energy storage.

Promising biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon for high performance supercapacitor

We proposed a simple strategy of one-pot carbonization, activation and nitrogen-doped processes to prepare biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NPC-K) by using well-sourced dumpling flour as carbon precursor, urea as nitrogen precursor and KOH as activation agent. In this process, the combination of KOH and urea was used to construct a highly porous structure because of their synergistic effect. The as-prepared NPC-K exhibited honeycomb-like porous structure, large specific surface area (2853.6 m2 g−1) and moderate nitrogen content. Therefore, the NPC-K displayed maximum specific capacitance of 311 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, outstanding rate capability and long lifetime of 10000 cycles in 6M KOH. Furthermore, NPC-K based symmetrical supercapacitor presented a high energy density of 15.92 Wh kg−1. These results are superior to many previously reported carbon materials.

Biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon with superior capacitive performance and high CO2 capture capacity

Nitrogen-doped porous carbon is synthesised through a low-cost approach that utilise water chestnut as a carbon source and melamine as a nitrogen source through potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation for 2 h at 600 °C-900 °C. The obtained samples exhibit predominant characteristics with highly developed micropores, an ultralarge specific surface area (3401 m2 g−1) and a high nitrogen content (4.89 at.%). These characteristics endow nitrogen-doped porous carbon with a high specific capacity of 346 F g−1 and a high energy density of 22.4 W h kg−1 at 0.5 A g−1 in 6 mol dm−3 KOH. It also exhibits an excellent cycling stability with a retention of nearly 97.6% capacity after 5000 cycles at 1 A g−1. In addition, the unique pore structure and high nitrogen content of porous carbon provide an important contribution to CO2 adsorption capacity, which can reach up to 6.0 mmol g−1 (at 0 °C and 1 bar) and 4.7 mmol g−1 (at 25 °C and 1 bar), and to high CO2/N2 selectivity. Results show that the synthesised porous carbon exhibit considerable potential in electrochemical energy storage and solid adsorption.