Lignocellulisic Nanopouros Carbon Materials for Fuel Cells

Studies have shown that high-efficiency micro- and mesoporous activated carbon with high added value can be obtained on the basis of lignocellulose biomass in a three-stage thermochemical process. A methodology has been developed for the synthesis of nitrogen-doped activated carbon by synthesis with dicyandiamide in dimethylformamide suspension as a raw material using wood, its processing residues and wood char.

Bamboo-Based Mesoporous Activated Carbon for High-Power-Density Electric Double-Layer Capacitors

Demand for hybrid energy storage systems is growing, but electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) have insufficient output characteristics because of the microporous structure of the activated carbon electrode material. Commercially, activated carbon is prepared from coconut shells, which yield an activated carbon material (YP-50F) rich in micropores, whereas mesopores are desired in EDLCs. In this study, we prepared mesoporous activated carbon (PB-AC) using a readily available, environmentally friendly resource: bamboo. Crucially, modification using phosphoric acid and steam activation was carried out, which enabled the tuning of the crystal structure and the pore characteristics of the product. The structural characteristics and textural properties of the PB-AC were determined, and the specific surface area and mesopore volume ratio of the PB-AC product were 960–2700 m2/g and 7.5–44.5%, respectively. The high specific surface area and mesopore-rich nature originate from the phosphoric acid treatment. Finally, PB-AC was used as the electrode material in EDLCs, and the specific capacitance was found to be 86.7 F/g for the phosphoric-acid-treated sample steam activated at 900 °C for 60 min; this capacitance is 35% better than that of the commercial YP-50F (64.2 F/g), indicating that bamboo is a suitable material for the production of activated carbon.

Application of Titanium Dioxide in the Synthesis of Mesoporous Activated Carbon Derived from Agricultural Waste

Adsorption is an important technique that significances the characteristics of porous solid materials and fine powders. The importance of porous solid materials and fine powders has been recognized when porous coal used for various applications such as catalysis, separation, isolation, sensors, chromatography, etc. Herein, the synthesis of mesoporous activated carbon derived from agricultural waste using TiO2. The TiO2-modified carbon was characterized employing scanning electron microscope (SEM), attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analyzer and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The obtained results suggested that the TiO2-modified carbon could be a potential material for various application like dye removal, metal removal and allied areas. This book chapter describes the commonly used classifications of porous bulk materials and also reported here the characterization of porous solid materials and fine powders with special reference to the evaluation of the surface area, pore size distribution and thermodynamic parameters of the different mesoporous material, at various scales of resolution using relevant techniques. These materials comprise several levels of structures that of the mesopores, micropores as well as macropores. The apparent topography analysis of these materials, of various pore diameters, synthesized in our laboratory has been determined at various scales with the help of various characterization techniques.