A Sustainable and Cost-Effective Nitrogen-Doped Three-Dimensional Porous Carbon for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Affordable clean energy is one of the major sustainable development goals that can transform our world. At present, researchers are working to develop cheap electrode materials to develop energy storage devices, the Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is considered a promising energy storage device owing to its excellent theoretical specific capacity and energy density. Herein, utilizing the ramie degumming waste liquid as raw materials, after freeze-drying and high-temperature calcination, a sustainable and cost-effective three-dimensional (3D) porous nitrogen-doped ramie carbon (N-RC) was synthesized. The N-RC calcined at 800 °C (N-RC-800) shows a superior high specific surface area of 1491.85 m2 ⋅ g-1 and a notable high pore volume of 0.90 cm3 ⋅ g-1. When employed as a sulfur host, the S@N-RC-800 cathode illustrates excellent initial discharge capacity (1120.6 mAh ⋅ g-1) and maintains a reversible capacity of 625.4 mAh ⋅ g-1 after 500 cycles at 1 C. Simultaneously, the S@N-RC-800 cathode also shows excellent coulombic efficiency and ideal rate performance. Such exceptional electrochemical performance of S@N-RC-800 can be primarily attributable to N-RC's high specific surface area, high porosity, and abundant polar functional groups. This green and low-cost synthesis strategy offers a new avenue for harnessing the potential of waste biomass in the context of clean energy storage.

Amination and crosslinking of acetone-fractionated hardwood kraft lignin using different amines and aldehydes for sustainable bio-based wood adhesives.

Hardwood kraft lignin from the pulping industry is burned or discarded. Its valorization was conducted by subjecting fractionation, amination with ethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine, and monoethanolamine, and crosslinking with formaldehyde or glyoxal to obtain bio-based wood adhesives. Acetone-soluble and insoluble hardwood kraft lignin were prepared and subjected to amination and then crosslinking. Fourier transform infrared, 13C NMR, 15N NMR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results revealed successful amination with amide, imine, and ether bonds and crosslinking of all samples. Hardwood kraft lignin aminated with diethylenetriamine/ethylenediamine and crosslinked using glyoxal exhibited excellent results in comparison with samples crosslinked using formaldehyde. Acetone-insoluble hardwood kraft lignin aminated and crosslinked using diethylenetriamine and formaldehyde, respectively, exhibited excellent adhesion strength with plywood, satisfying the requirements of the Korean standards. The amination and crosslinking of industrial waste hardwood kraft lignin constitute a beneficial valorization method.

Production of Activated Carbons from Food/Storage Waste.

This paper deals with the adsorption of organic and inorganic pollutants on the surface of carbonaceous adsorbents prepared via the chemical activation of expired or broken food products-the solid residue of the "cola-type" drink as well as spoilt grains of white rice and buckwheat groats. The activation process was conducted in the microwave furnace with the use of two activating agents of different chemical nature-potassium carbonate and orthophosphoric acid. The activated carbons were characterized based on the results of elemental analysis, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption/desorption, Boehm titration, thermal analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Additionally, the suitability of the materials prepared as the adsorbents of methylene blue and iodine from the aqueous solutions was estimated. The materials obtained via chemical activation with H3PO4 turned out to be much more effective in terms of both model pollutant adsorptions. The maximum sorption capacity toward iodine (1180 mg/g) was found for the white-rice-based activated carbon, whereas the most effective in the methylene blue removal (221.3 mg/g) was the sample obtained from the solid residue of the expired "cola-type" drink. For all carbonaceous materials, a better fit for the experimental adsorption data was obtained with the Langmuir isotherm model than the Freundlich one.

Activated Biocarbons Obtained from Plant Biomass as Adsorbents of Heavy Metal Ions.

This paper deals with the adsorption of heavy metal ions on the surface of carbonaceous materials obtained via the chemical activation of biomass. Waste plum stones, pine sawdust and horsetail herb were used as the precursors of carbonaceous adsorbents. The effect of the precursor type and preparation procedure on the physicochemical properties of activated biocarbons and their sorption abilities towards Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions have been checked. The obtained micro-mesoporous activated biocarbons were characterized by determination of elemental composition and ash content, the number of surface functional groups and pH of water extracts as well as textural study based on low temperature nitrogen adsorption/desorption and scanning electron microscopy. Additionally, the electrokinetic studies including solid surface charge density and zeta potential determination were performed. Moreover, the adsorption data modelling (equilibrium and kinetics), XPS results analysis and comparison of parameters characterizing electrical double layer formed at the solid-liquid interface enabled the specification of the mechanism of heavy metals binding with the activated biocarbons surface. The maximum adsorption capacity towards copper and lead ions (177.5 and 178.1 mg/g, respectively) was found for plum stone-based activated biocarbon. For all carbonaceous materials, better fit to the experimental data was achieved with a Langmuir isotherm than a Freundlich one. In turn, a better fit of the kinetics data was obtained using the pseudo-second order model.