Issue 9, 2020

The effect of precursor structure on porous carbons produced by iron-catalyzed graphitization of biomass

Abstract

This paper reports a systematic study into the effect of different biomass-derived precursors on the structure and porosity of carbons prepared via catalytic graphitization. Glucose, starch and cellulose are combined with iron nitrate and heated under a nitrogen atmosphere to produce Fe3C nanoparticles, which catalyze the conversion of amorphous carbon to graphitic nanostructures. The choice of organic precursor provides a means of controlling the catalyst particle size, which has a direct effect on the porosity of the material. Cellulose and glucose produce mesoporous carbons, while starch produces a mixture of micro- and mesopores under the same conditions and proceeds via a much slower graphitization step, generating a mixture of graphitic nanostructures and turbostratic carbon. Porous carbons are critical to energy applications such as batteries and electrocatalytic processes. For these applications, a simple and sustainable route to those carbons is essential. Therefore, the ability to control the precise structure of a biomass-derived carbon simply through the choice of precursor will enable the production of a new generation of energy materials.

Graphical abstract: The effect of precursor structure on porous carbons produced by iron-catalyzed graphitization of biomass

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 sep 2020
Accepted
10 okt 2020
First published
13 okt 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Mater. Adv., 2020,1, 3281-3291

The effect of precursor structure on porous carbons produced by iron-catalyzed graphitization of biomass

R. D. Hunter, J. L. Rowlandson, G. J. Smales, B. R. Pauw, V. P. Ting, A. Kulak and Z. Schnepp, Mater. Adv., 2020, 1, 3281 DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00692K

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