Biomass Juncus Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Materials for Supercapacitor and Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Juncus is a perennial herb aquatic plant found worldwide, with high reproductive ability in warm regions. It has three-dimensional hierarchical porous triangular networks structures composited of tubular fibers. Here, juncus derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NDPC) was prepared by mixing juncus and ZnCl 2 through one-step pyrolysis and activation which is a low-cost, simple, and environmentally friendly method. The NDPC had hierarchical porous structures and a high specific surface area and was applied for supercapacitor and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The resulted NDPC-3-800 was prepared by mixing juncus with ZnCl 2 at a mass ratio of 1:3 and then carbonized at 800 • C, it was used as electrode material of a supercapacitor. The supercapacitor exhibited excellent specific capacitance of 290.5 F g −1 and 175.0 F g −1 in alkaline electrolyte at the current densities of 0.5 A g −1 and 50 A g −1 , respectively. The supercapacitor showed good cycle stability, and the capacitance was maintained at 94.5% after 10,000 cycles. The NDPC-5-800 was prepared by mixing juncus with ZnCl 2 at a mass ratio of 1:5 and then carbonized at 800 • C. It exhibited outstanding ORR catalytic activity and stability attributing to their high specific surface area and abundant actives sites. The juncus can derive various materials for application in different fields.

Renewable biomass‐derived carbons for electrochemical capacitor applications

“…In most cases, BDCs may inherit or evolve the special structures of biomass precursors. The diversity of biomass leads to the formation of BDCs with spherical, 44,45 fibrous, 46,47 sheet‐like, 48,49 and skeleton structure 50–53 . Biomass, especially lignocellulosic biomass, consists of mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (Figure 3), 54–56 chemically composed of C, H, and O with the partial presence of N, S, and P, as well as a trace of Fe, Ca, K, Si, and other elements.…”

“…Heteroatoms doping by elements, such as O, N, S, P, and F, can enhance the electrical conductivity, change the surface wettability, introduce pseudocapacitance, accelerate the charge transfer, and facilitate the electrode/electrolyte interface reactions in BDCs 46,69,73,76,155 . The incorporation of heteroatoms within BDCs usually alters the electron‐accepting or donating characteristics, as well as the structures, thereby influencing the electrochemical performances.…”

“…The positive charges pyridinic‐N‐oxide and graphitic‐N are beneficial for accelerating the electron transfer, while the negative charges of pyridinic‐N and pyrrolic‐N provide electroactive sites for pseudocapacitance to the specific capacity. Numerous biomass materials contain nitrogen element, including pine needle, 164 juncus, 46 chitosan, 170 coronarium, 148 pine pollen, 171 bamboo fungus, 172 spirulina platensis, 173 and porcine bladders 174 . These materials can be transformed into nitrogen self‐doped BDCs by carbonization and activation without additional nitrogen dopants.…”

Synergistic Catalysis of SnO2-CNTs Composite for VO2+/VO2+ and V2+/V3+ Redox Reactions

“…With the rapid development of society, humanity is consuming increasingly more natural energy from finite resources, such as coal and natural gas (He G. et al, 2020 ; Wang T. et al, 2020 ; Wang Z.-Y. et al, 2020 ).…”

A Short Review on the Electrochemical Performance of Hierarchical and Nitrogen-Doped Activated Biocarbon-Based Electrodes for Supercapacitors

“…Structural combinations of microporous, mesoporous, microporous, and hierarchical porous carbon that might offer high conductivity and characteristic interconnectivity can be produced by different strategies [ 75 , 76 ]. Carbon black, graphene and carbon nanotubes are typical candidates for precursors of highly porous materials [ 77 ] due to their fast charge–discharge kinetics, good stability, and environmentally harmless behavior.…”