Chitin-Derived Heteroatom-Doped Porous Carbon for High-Performance Room-Temperature Na-S Batteries

Abstract

Porous carbon derived from biomass is considered as a promising active electrode material for the next-generation energy storage systems. Herein, carbon particles with a hierarchical structure are fabricated from chitin through a facile pyrolysis/activation process, which is loaded with sulfur (S) as the cathode material in a room-temperature sodium–sulfur (RT Na-S) battery. Owing to the large specific surface area, enriched microporous structure, and nitrogen and oxygen-self-doping, the obtained carbon particles can not only provide abundant active sites for energy storage and rapid ion transport channels but also improve the utilization of S. Consequently, the S-cathode achieves an excellent cycle stability of 230 mAh g–1 at a current density of 1 A g–1 after 2000 cycles with a capacity retention of ∼94%. According to the kinetic analysis and density functional theory calculation, the unique and robust structure of carbon particles enables physical encapsulation and chemical confinement of S and polysulfides (PSs), which can strengthen Na+ adsorption and diffusion. Therefore, this work established a universal technique for producing high-performance S-cathode materials, which may offer the potential for economical energy storage in RT Na-S batteries.

Nitrogen-Doped Hierarchical Nanoporous Carbon Materials from Discarded Polyurethane Sponges via One-Step Double-Activation Method for Double-Layer Capacitors

“…Moreover, 91.3% of the initial specific capacitance is still retained even after 20000 cycles at the current density of 5 A g −1 in Figure 5e, illustrating that NPC- CZ material possesses remarkable stability and cycle life in a symmetric capacitor system, which is inferior to that of carbonbased symmetrical supercapacitor in numerous literature works (Figure 5f). 24,47,49,60−64 The working principle for a NPC-CZbased symmetric supercapacitor is illustrated in Figure 5g: (1) the electrochemical reactions primarily take place on the electrode surface involving the behavior of K + or OH − in terms of adsorption and desorption; (2) the micropores structure provides a larger specific surface area for K + or OH − adsorption;…”

“…Carbon-based materials have garnered significant research attention due to their unique adjustable structure and properties, such as a large specific surface area and well-developed porosity. These attributes make them highly versatile in the energy field, including fuel cells, batteries, electrocatalysis, and supercapacitors. − Carbon nanotubes and graphene possess particularly fascinating properties; however, their widespread application has been hindered by high preparation costs, low yields, and other challenges. , Consequently, there is an immediate necessity to foster the development of novel carbon-based materials with abundant raw materials, low cost, and environmental friendliness.…”

Activation-Free Synthesis of Chitin-Derived Porous Carbon: Application for Electrical Energy Storage

“…The XRD patterns of the CDPCs showed broad peaks at approximately 25°and 43°, which are attributed to the carbon (002) and ( 10) diffractions, respectively. This result indicates that the CDPCs have amorphous carbon structures, 40−42 as well as chitinderived carbons 28,43,44 and other biomass-derived carbons. 12 As shown in Figure 1a, the interlayer spacing (d 002 ) of the CDPCs calculated by using the Bragg equation did not show a large difference regardless of the heating rate.…”

Shell waste valorization to chemicals: methods and progress

“…are discussed in several earlier literature works. The majority of them are being utilized for electrochemical applications [63][64][65][66][67][68] and various organic transformations. 58,59,69,70 Readers are redirected to the references for further reading.…”