Production Of Carbon Materials Research Articles

Exploring synergistic effects in physical-chemical activation of Acorus calamus for water treatment solutions

The research proposed a novel method of obtaining sorption material from readily available Acorus calamus biomass through a combination of physical and chemical activation processes. The material with the highest specific surface area (1652 m2 g−1) was obtained by physical activation with CO2, followed by chemical activation with KOH. Reversing the order of activation methods resulted in a lower specific surface area (1014 m2 g−1) of the carbon sample. Chemical activation produced activated carbon with a surface area of 1066 m2 g−1-, while physical activation produced 390 m2 g−1. This confirms the synergistic effect of combining the two activation methods for biocarbon. It was observed that physical activation with CO2 generates a diverse range of pores, including meso- and macropores, while chemical activation induces the formation of micropores. In contrast, reversing the order of these processes leads to the degradation of the porous structure. The application of physical-chemical activation with synergistic effects represents a significant advancement in producing high-quality activated biocarbon for various applications, such as wastewater treatment and energy storage. The combination of the two activation methods resulted in a synergistic effect, leading to the production of carbon material of higher quality. Additionally, the diversified pore sizes will enable the sorption of various pollutants in the aquatic environment and air pollutants, where gas particles are much smaller.

Aspergillus niger fermentation residues application to produce biochar for the anode of lithium-ion batteries

Aspergillus niger is widely applied in the fermentation industry, but produce abundant mycelium residues every year. As a kind of solid waste, mycelium residues seriously affect the environment. How to manage and utilize this solid waste is a problem for the fermentation industry. It was reported that many kinds of biomass could be utilized to produce carbon materials, which would be further used to produce lithium-ion rechargeable batteries (LIBs). Here, porous biochar was prepared from A. niger mycelial residues and further used as an anode for LIBs. Since the A. niger mycelium contains abundant nitrogen (5.29%) from its chitosan-dominated cell wall, and silicon (9.63%) from perlite filter aid, respectively, the biochar presented an excellent cycle stability and rate performance when applied as the anode of LIBs. The conclusion of this research shows the wide application prospect of fungal fermentation residues as carbon precursors in energy storage devices. Meanwhile, this investigation provides an alternative management method for A. niger mycelium residues, with which the mycelium residues could be effectively recycled to avoid resource waste and environmental pollution.

A facile procedure to improve the performance of food-waste-derived carbons in sodium-ion batteries

The anode of Na-ion batteries under development is dominated by carbon materials, especially hard carbons with poorly organized structures. The production of carbon materials by pyrolysis of food waste is less expensive and more environmentally friendly than from pure organic compounds. In this work, the sulfuric acid pre-treatment of ground coffee grains before carbonization is evaluated as a simple but efficient tool to improve the electrochemical performance of the resulting carbon for the anode of sustainable Na-ion batteries. The carbon product shows a significant reduction in inorganic impurities and a decrease in crystallinity, which results in a reversible capacity close to 33 % higher, enhanced first-cycle efficiency, and better kinetic response than the non-pre-treated materials. Thus, reversible capacities at C/10 increase from ca. 150 mAhg−1 to 200 mAhg−1 after acid treatment, and the capacity of the non-acid-treated samples falls to negligible values at 2C kinetics, in contrast with significant retention of the acid-treated one.

Atomistic Insights into Early-Stage Oxidation of χ-Fe5C2 and the Dependence on the Surface Structure

Iron carbides play a crucial role in many industrial fields, such as the steel industry, catalysis, carbon material production, and so on. One of the main challenges is that iron carbides are highly susceptible to being oxidized under service conditions, which can significantly reduce the performance and retard their industrial applications. However, the complex chemical structure of iron carbide materials and the dynamic nature of the Fe–C–O system under reactive conditions, such as the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis condition, hindered the understanding of the oxidation process. In this paper, structure evolution of the early-stage oxidation of χ-Fe5C2 was investigated through reactive force field molecular dynamics simulations. The impacts of surface structure, oxygen coverage, temperature, and particle size were systemically explored. It was found that the oxidation rate was not only related to the surface carbon content but also to the homogeneity of the subsurface. Meanwhile, the dynamic structure transformation during oxidation was analyzed by various correlation functions. The mechanism of counter-direction migration of surface atoms during the oxidation process was illustrated, where carbon atoms migrate to the bulk region and iron atoms migrate to the surface. Our study reveals the atomistic dynamic mechanism of χ-Fe5C2 oxidation, which offers crucial insights for catalyst oxidation and iron carbide materials.

Green Production of Biomass-Derived Carbon Materials for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) with a high energy density have been regarded as a promising energy storage device to harness unstable but clean energy from wind, tide, solar cells, and so on. However, LSBs still suffer from the disadvantages of the notorious shuttle effect of polysulfides and low sulfur utilization, which greatly hider their final commercialization. Biomasses represent green, abundant and renewable resources for the production of carbon materials to address the aforementioned issues by taking advantages of their intrinsic hierarchical porous structures and heteroatom-doping sites, which could attribute to the strong physical and chemical adsorptions as well as excellent catalytic performances of LSBs. Therefore, many efforts have been devoted to improving the performances of biomass-derived carbons from the aspects of exploring new biomass resources, optimizing the pyrolysis method, developing effective modification strategies, or achieving further understanding about their working principles in LSBs. This review firstly introduces the structures and working principles of LSBs and then summarizes recent developments in research on carbon materials employed in LSBs. Particularly, this review focuses on recent progresses in the design, preparation and application of biomass-derived carbons as host or interlayer materials in LSBs. Moreover, outlooks on the future research of LSBs based on biomass-derived carbons are discussed.

Synthesis of nitrogen-doped hierarchically porous carbons with ordered mesopores from liquefied wood: Pore architecture manipulation by NH4Cl for improved electrochemical performance

Functional porous carbon materials have attracted significant attentions due to their unique characteristics. Herein, the synthesis of N-doped hierarchically porous carbon (N-HPC) with ordered mesopores from liquefied wood is reported through a soft-templating and chemical blowing method with the assistance of NH4Cl to regulate their pore architectures. The NH4Cl strengthens the interactions between the carbon sources and soft templates in the hydrothermal process to produce carbon materials with highly ordered mesostructure after carbonization. Then, the obtained carbon is ground with NH4Cl, where NH4Cl releases NH3 and HCl upon heating to introduce N atoms and micropores into the carbon structures. Highly ordered p6mm mesostructure, high specific surface area (1160 m2 g−1) and nitrogen content of 3.75 wt% are obtained with the assistance of NH4Cl, which together affords them enhanced electrochemical performance for supercapacitors. The obtained N-HPC electrode displays a specific capacitance of 282 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and good rate capability.

Green and easy synthesis of P-doped carbon-based hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts

In this study, efficient electrodes for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) based on low-cost and metal-free carbon catalysts are presented. Phytic acid, a biosourced molecule containing carbon (C) and phosphorus (P), was found to be an excellent precursor for producing carbon materials with high P content, depending on the carbonization temperature, from 27.9 wt% at 700 °C to 7.3 wt% at 1000 °C. A green and easy route to produce P-doped carbon materials by heat treatment of this biosourced precursor without the need for additional reagents is thus proposed. We show that the conversion of P-O-type groups into P-C-type species is of paramount importance for improving the catalytic activity in HER of P-doped carbon materials. P-C-type groups appear to be the key factor in the electrocatalytic activity, reaching an onset potential of - 0.27 V. This study sheds light on the origin of the catalytic activity of P-doped carbons, in which P is expected to modify the homogenous distribution of the electron density of undoped carbons and increase their catalytic performance.

"Liquid-To-Solid" Conversion of Biomass Wastes Enhanced by Uniform Nitrogen Doping for the Preparation of High-Value-Added Carbon Materials for Energy Storage with Superior Characteristics.

Sustainable human development urgently calls for decreasing the cost of energy storage. Continuous massive consumption of dedicated carbon electrode materials with complex internal molecular architectures requires rethinking both the source of materials and the process of their production. Finding an efficient sustainable solution is focused on the reuse and development of waste processing into corresponding high-value-added carbon materials. The processing of solid wastes into solid value-added carbon materials ("solid-to-solid") is relatively well developed but can be a two-stage process involving carbon architecture rearrangement and heteroatom doping. Processing liquid wastes into high-value-added solid material ("liquid-to-solid") is typically much more challenging with the need for different production equipment. In the present study, a new approach is developed to bypass the difficulty in the "liquid-to-solid" conversion and simultaneously built in the ability for heteroatom doping within one production stage. Polycondensation of liquid humins waste with melamine (as a nitrogen-containing cross-linking component) results in solidification with preferential C and N atomic arrangements. For subsequent thermochemical conversion of the obtained solidified wastes, complicated equipment is no longer required, and under simple process conditions, carbon materials for energy storage with superior characteristics were obtained. A complete sequence is reported in the present study, including liquid waste processing, nitrogen incorporation, carbon material production, structural study of the obtained materials, detailed electrochemical evaluation and real supercapacitor device manufacture and testing.

Lignin-derived carbon material for electrochemical energy storage applications: Insight into the process-structure-properties-performance correlations.

As increasing attention has been paid to applications of lignin-derived energy storage materials in the last decade, most studies pursue the improvement of electrochemical performance obtained from novel lignin sources, or structure and surface modifications of synthesized materials, while the study on the mechanisms of lignin thermochemical conversion is rare. This review emphasizes on establishing a process-structure-properties-performance correlation across multiple key aspects associated with valorizing lignin from a byproduct of biorefineries to high performance energy storage materials. Such information is the key to a rationally designed process for the low-cost production of carbon materials from lignin.

Preparation of supercapacitor carbon materials from food waste via low-temperature pyrolysis

In this study, hydrothermal pyrolysis of food waste (FW) was first performed at temperatures ranging from 160° to 260°C for 1 h to produce carbon materials for use as supercapacitor electrodes for energy storage. The hydrochar (HC) produced at 220 °C and activated by KOH exhibited the best electrochemical performance among the prepared samples. Next, tube-furnace and microwave pyrolysis of the FW was performed at 220 °C for 1 h for comparison. The study explains the effect of different pyrolysis processes on the properties of the prepared carbon materials. The results showed that microwave pyrolysis produced microwave carbon (MC), which exhibited the largest specific surface area (734.4 m2g-1), an optimal pore size, and the best electrochemical properties after KOH activation among the prepared samples. The activated MC exhibited a specific capacitance of 189.7 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 and 146.0 F g-1 at a high current density of 20 A g-1, corresponding to a capacitance retention rate of 76.96%. The low impedance and ion diffusion resistance of the prepared materials provide a novel avenue for the comprehensive, efficient, simple, and harmless utilization of FW.

Molten salt-mediated carbon capture and conversion

The post-combustion capture is a promising technology to reduce industrial CO2 emission. This review articles concluded the recent advances in molten salt strategies for CO2 capture and conversion. In terms of CO2 capture, MgO-based sorbents can efficiently capture CO2 through a reversible carbonation/calcination reaction at intermediate temperatures (300–500 °C). The addition of alkali metal molten salt to MgO-based sorbents can greatly promote the CO2 uptake, which are promising candidates applied in the post combustion CO2 capture technology. Besides, molten salts such as ZnCl2/NaCl can be served as both activating agents and templates for synthesis of porous carbons from biomass and plastics. Particularly, N-doped porous carbons with highly microporous structures are more suitable for CO2 capture under ambient conditions. In terms of CO2 conversion, the electrochemical reduction in molten salts has been widely developed for producing carbon materials and fuels. Additionally, molten salts (normally single and mixed alkali metal carbonates) acting as both catalysts and heat transfer mediums can enhance the CO2 gasification of carbon feedstocks to produce CO-rich syngas. A significant challenge in the CO2 gasification of biomass/coal and their chars in molten alkali metal carbonates is the potential agglomeration between alkali metal species and minerals in the ash under high temperatures. To achieve sorbents regeneration and CO2 utilization, it is strongly recommended that more further researches should be performed on the integrated CO2 capture and in-situ electro-/thermo-chemical conversion processes for selectively production of high-value chemicals and fuels, which can alleviate the crisis of fossil fuels shortage and reduce the greenhouse gas emission.

Breaking the temperature limit of hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic biomass by decoupling temperature and pressure

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of lignocellulosic biomass is a promising technology for the production of carbon materials with negative carbon emissions. However, the high reaction temperature and energy consumption have limited the development of HTC technology. In conventional batch reactors, the temperature and pressure are typically coupled at saturated states. In this study, a decoupled temperature and pressure hydrothermal (DTPH) reaction system was developed to decrease the temperature of the HTC reaction of lignocellulosic biomass (rice straw and poplar leaves). The properties of hydrochars were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), etc. to propose the reaction mechanism. The results showed that the HTC reaction of lignocellulosic biomass could be realized at a low temperature of 200 °C in the DTPH process, breaking the temperature limit (230 °C) in the conventional process. The DTPH method could break the barrier of the crystalline structure of cellulose in the lignocellulosic biomass with high cellulose content, realizing the carbonization of cellulose and hemicellulose with the dehydration, unsaturated bond formation, and aromatization. The produced hydrochar had an appearance of carbon microspheres, with high calorific values, abundant oxygen-containing functional groups, a certain degree of graphitization, and good thermal stability. Cellulose acts not only as a barrier to protect itself and hemicellulose from decomposition, but also as a key precursor for the formation of carbon microspheres. This study shows a promising method for synthesizing carbon materials from lignocellulosic biomass with a carbon-negative effect.

POLYACRYLONITRILE NONWOVENS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF CARBON MATERIALS SUPPORTING THE REGENERATION OF BONE AND CARTILAGE TISSUES

The influence of the change in surface weight on the physical properties of oxidized polyacrylonitrile precursor nonwovens intended for the production of carbon materials used in tissue engineering was studied. Thermal insulation properties of the nonwovens and their behavior during incubation in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) were investigated. Initial carbonization tests showed that from the point of view of carbonization and further application of carbon materials, the most effective was the use of a surface weight of about 120 g/m2. At the same time, for the research conducted on the incubation of nonwovens in PBS, no significant change in the pH of the solution was found.

Sustainable carbon materials from the pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass

Carbon materials with extremely variable properties are widely used in various fields such as energy and environment. The 21st century can be called the “super carbon era.” However, most of the synthesis pathways for carbon materials still rely on traditional fossil fuels, which will exacerbate the climate change issue. Biomass produced in nature is a sustainable source of carbon. Converting biomass to carbon materials is even a process of negative carbon emission, which can help alleviate the pressure of global warming. Pyrolysis is a simple but effective method to produce carbon materials from biomass. This review focuses on the production and functionalization of carbon materials produced by the pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. The synthesis process and mechanism of lignocellulosic biomass-based carbon materials are reviewed, and the properties of the carbon materials (morphology, pore structure, surface area, and surface functional groups) are discussed. Moreover, we summarize the functionalization methods, including porous functionalization, N-doped functionalization, and metal-doped functionalization. At last, we propose the future prospects.

Low-temperature hydrothermal carbonization of pectin enabled by high pressure

Pectin is an important component of biomass waste widely existing in the plant cell wall. Hydrothermal carbonization of pectin can produce carbon materials for energy storage, adsorption, and catalysis. However, pressure is generally the self-generated pressure in the hydrothermal reaction, which changes with temperature during the heating process. The independent effect of pressure on the hydrothermal reaction of pectin is unclear and has not been investigated before, especially the effect of high pressure at a low temperature. In this study, by performing the hydrothermal treatment of pectin under different pressures (up to 20 MPa) at a fixed temperature of 200 °C, we found that high pressure could effectively promote carbonization. To understand the mechanism of pressure effect on hydrochar properties, the produced hydrochars were characterized by elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N2 adsorption/desorption, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), while pyrolysis and combustion behaviors were analyzed using the thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The mechanism of high pressure was cleaving the hydroxyl groups, ester carbonyl groups, and aliphatic structures with the process of dehydration and decarboxylation. More aromatic structures were formed in hydrochars with higher carbon content, resulting in a structure with better thermal stability. Carbon spheres with a larger diameter could be formed under higher pressure. The promoting effect was strongest in the range of 2–8 MPa and weaker under higher pressures (8–20 MPa). Future studies may improve the degree of hydrothermal carbonization of pectin by applying an appropriate high pressure.

Biomass blend derived porous carbon for aqueous supercapacitors with commercial-level mass loadings and enhanced energy density in redox-active electrolyte

Herein, oxygen-enriched porous carbon (PC-x) was prepared via co-pyrolysis, and activation of a ternary mixture of biomass (viz. sugarcane bagasse, water hyacinth, and yellow oleander). The PC-x possessed large surface area (1439–2297 m2 g−1), high pore volume, rational micro/mesopore distribution, and surface oxygen functionalities (C/O = 2.5–3.1). The optimized PC-x electrodes at commercial electrode mass loading (∼10 mg cm−2) unveiled a gravimetric capacitance of 251.6F g−1, high rate capability, and cycle stability in 6 M KOH electrolyte. The high voltage (2 V) aqueous symmetric supercapacitor fabricated in 1 M Li2SO4 electrolyte exhibited an energy density of 22.75 W h kg−1 (at 200 W kg−1) with 96.8% capacitance retention over 10,000 cycles at 5 A g−1. The energy density of the supercapacitor was augmented to 37.24 W h kg−1 (at 200 W kg−1) using 0.1 M Na2MoO4 as the redox-additive in the Li2SO4. The approach of using biomass blends offers flexibility in terms of choosing multiple waste biomass as precursors for large-scale and sustainable production of carbon materials for energy storage applications.

Sono‐exfoliated graphene‐like activated carbon from hazelnut shells for flexible supercapacitors

Currently, more than 80% of commercial supercapacitors utilize chemically synthesized carbon nanomaterials which are expensive and necessitates non-renewable resources. Employing renewable, environment friendly and naturally available biomass feedstock as precursor for producing carbon materials is a low-cost and sustainable way for designing the electrodes of supercapacitors. In the present study, high surface area hierarchical porous multilayered graphene-like carbon is obtained via room temperature sono-exfoliation of the activated carbon synthesized via simple and environmentally friendly hydrothermal carbonization and potassium bicarbonate activation of waste hazelnut shells as the precursor. The high surface area graphene-like carbon showed excellent electrochemical performance with specific capacitance of 320.9 F g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 current density and exceptional capacitance retention of 77.8% at 2 A g−1 current density after 10 000 cycles in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. Moreover, flexible supercapacitors fabricated using sono-exfoliated graphene-like activated carbon coated stainless steel mesh electrodes and biopolymer gel electrolyte exhibits an outstanding energy density of 38.7 W h kg−1 and power density of 198.4 W kg−1. These results show that mechanically exfoliated graphene-like activated carbon derived from hazelnut shells exhibit superior electrochemical performance that can compete with other activated carbon materials used in energy storage devices for real time applications.

Effect of secondary gas-phase reactions (SGR) in pyrolysis of carbon feedstocks for anisotropic carbon materials production – 2: Effects of SGR on tars produced from varying ranks of coal

This work explores the extent to which secondary gas-phase reactions (SGR) in pyrolysis can be used to modify coal tar chemistries from coals of different ranks in favor of improved anisotropy formation in their respective pitches. Pyrolysis was performed on four different coals of varying bituminous rank (Utah Sufco, Wyoming PRB Black Thunder, Illinois #6, and West Virginia Flying Eagle), with SGR temperatures ranging from 800 to 900° C and nominal SGR gas-phase residence times from 1 to 2.5 s. The oxygen content, aliphatic content, and molecular weight distributions of the coal tar samples were measured to indicate the changes with increasing levels of SGR, and microscopy was also used to measure changes in anisotropy formation in the resulting pitch samples. Generally, for all coals tested, increased levels of pyrolysis SGR led to decreased oxygen and aliphatic content, increased molecular weight sizes, and improved anisotropy formation. However, it was clear that the extent of these property changes depended on the chemistry and rank of the starting coal feedstock. Despite the relatively high rank of the Illinois #6 coal, its respective pitch samples performed poorly in improving anisotropy formation, due to its high sulfur content. The PRB, Sufco, and Flying Eagle coals performed better in their anisotropy formation than Illinois #6, depending on their respective coal ranks. Statistical analysis (analysis of variance, ANOVA) performed on the sample characterization data also suggests that SGR temperature is consistently the most dominant and significant effect on the resulting coal products.

Mixed-Metal MOF-Derived Carbon Sponges for Oil Absorption.

In this work, we propose the implementation of three carbon sponges, generated from the carbonization of melamine-formaldehyde sponges coated with different HKUST-type metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in different thermal conditions. Nowadays, numerous investigations are focused on the development of new technologies for the rapid separation of water/oil mixtures. Several of these processes use hydrophobic materials of different nature for efficient oil capture. Despite these efforts, the water/oil separation still remains a great challenge. The main oil absorbers that are commercially available tend to be expensive and have complex synthesis; however, they usually have an acceptable cost/benefit ratio. Despite this, the passage of time has brought us new generations of materials, which seek to solve the problems in a more efficient way, as in the case of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which stand out for the great ease with which their morphological and surface aspects can be controlled. MOFs are extensively investigated in the fields of adsorption and catalysis; the MOF coated sponges do not meet the selectivity and stability standards to be applied in oil spills in water. However, this completely changes when subjected to the pyrolysis process, giving the material an increase in its surface area, hydrophobic and magnetic properties in addition to making the material suitable for its application. Creation of a low-cost 3D template and the study of morphological properties of MOFs, for the formation of carbon-based materials by a fast, simple and low-cost method, promoting the use of new generations of materials to more effectively solve persistent environments. The employed MOF precursors were trimesic acid (BTC), nickel and cobalt salts. The monometallic HKUST type MOFs were synthesized using a simple method of controlled precipitation, which starts from two precursor solutions. The first one consisted of a ligand solution, dissolving the BTC in deionized water. In the case of mixed-metal MOFs, they were synthesized using the same procedure described for monometallic MOFs, but in this case, a mixture of metal salts with a 1:1 molar ratio was performed. The methodology for the production of the sponges decorated with MOF was carried out in two steps. In the first stage, the sponges were subjected to a wash to remove dust and impurities, being rinsed with acetone in an ultrasonic bath for 30 min. The sponges were subsequently immersed in deionized water and subjected to an ultrasonic bath for 10 min. Finally, the sponges were dried at 60°C for 3 h. The second step was the addition of the HKUST-type MOFs to the sponges was carried out by means of the immersion method, preparing a dispersion of the corresponding MOFs in ethanol. It was revealed that the carbon sponges can selectively absorb oil in the water/oil mixture, possessing magnetic and enhanced hydrophobic and superhydrophobic properties. All the pyrolyzed carbon sponges, obtained at 500 and 700°C, were not the most optimal since they had absorption capacities of around 25 g/g and only supported up to 4 absorption cycles. On the other hand, the carbon sponges, obtained at 300°C, had absorption capacities greater than 40 g/g, in addition to being able to be reused up to 12 times without showing significant changes in their absorption capacity and having acceptable hydrophobic characteristics for the removal of oil dispersed in water. Among the three sponges obtained at 300°C, we highlight the sponges coated with BTC-Co, which have the highest absorption capacity (54 g/g) among all fabricated sponges. The sponges obtained in the present work are a promising alternative to the materials that are traditionally used since they have great advantages such as their simple production method, low-cost starting materials and good absorption capacities. This work sheds light on the production of carbon materials from 3D templates decorated with MOFs, through a one-step carbonization process and we demonstrate that these materials have characteristics that make them applicable in the removal of oil dispersed in water, giving us a practical, economic and friendly alternative to the environment.

Carbon Neutralization: The exploration of clean energy and ecological environment to achieve low carbon emission

Climate change is already affecting the entire world, with extreme weather conditions due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. In this context, the term “Carbon Neutralization” is proposed. The term is used in the context of carbon dioxide-releasing processes associated with transportation, energy production, agriculture, and industry. Carbon Neutralization means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. Switching energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables like solar or wind will reduce the emissions driving climate change. Carbon Neutralization is copublished by Wiley and Wenzhou University, China. Carbon Neutralization is an international journal that addresses the growing scientific interests and needs in cutting-edge energy technology involving carbon utilization and carbon emission control. It serves as a high-quality platform for researchers working in a wide variety of scientific areas to communicate their findings and critical opinions as well as bring the communities of advanced material and energy together to contribute to this emerging field. Carbon Neutralization aims at publishing environmental science, ecosystems, carbon capture and storage, renewable energy, solar energy, fuel cells, batteries, hydrogen energy, energy harvesting devices, bioenergy, biofuels, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and so forth. It prompts new technologies leading to the control of carbon emission and green production of carbon materials. The journal recognizes the complexity of issues, and therefore particularly welcomes innovative interdisciplinary research with wide impact. Carbon Neutralization invites you to submit original research and review articles, editorials, short communications, and letters to the editor. We encourage contributors to read the authors' guidelines (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/27693325/homepage/author-guidelines), grasping the criteria of each article type. Carbon Neutralization adopts an open-access publishing model, and all published articles are freely accessed through the Wiley Online Library (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/r/carbon-neutralization). The Editorial Board of Carbon Neutralization is comprised of prominent experts around the world spanning across multiple research fields. Our Honorary Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Rose Amal, from University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, is an ARC Laureate Fellow. She is recognized as a pioneer and leading authority in the fields of fine particle technology, photocatalysis, and functional nanomaterials having made significant contributions to these related areas of research. Our Editors-in-Chief are Prof. Shulei Chou and Prof. Min Zhao, both of them are from Wenzhou University, who are responsible for the whole publication process of Carbon Neutralization. Assisting the Editors-in-Chief to expedite the peer review process, three Associate Editors are on board, including Prof. Dawei Wang (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Prof. Jianbing Li (University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada), and Prof. Hui Ying Yang (Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, Singapore). Ultimately, it is our strong belief that with you as our passionate readers, resourceful authors, critical commentators, and reviewers, Carbon Neutralization will rapidly emerge into a leading open-access journal in the cross-field of clean energy and environmental science. The authors declare no conflict of interest.