Recent Advances in Carbon-Based Electrodes for Energy Storage and Conversion.

Carbon-based nanomaterials, including graphene, fullerenes, and carbon nanotubes, are attracting significant attention as promising materials for next-generation energy storage and conversion applications. They possess unique physicochemical properties, such as structural stability and flexibility, high porosity, and tunable physicochemical features, which render them well suited in these hot research fields. Technological advances at atomic and electronic levels are crucial for developing more efficient and durable devices. This comprehensive review provides a state-of-the-art overview of these advanced carbon-based nanomaterials for various energy storage and conversion applications, focusing on supercapacitors, lithium as well as sodium-ion batteries, and hydrogen evolution reactions. Particular emphasis is placed on the strategies employed to enhance performance through nonmetallic elemental doping of N, B, S, and P in either individual doping or codoping, as well as structural modifications such as the creation of defect sites, edge functionalization, and inter-layer distance manipulation, aiming to provide the general guidelines for designing these devices by the above approaches to achieve optimal performance. Furthermore, this review delves into the challenges and future prospects for the advancement of carbon-based electrodes in energy storage and conversion.

Fabrication of Mesoporous C60/Carbon Hybrids with 3D Porous Structure for Energy Storage Applications.

We report on the synthesis of 3D mesoporous fullerene/carbon hybrid materials with ordered porous structure and high surface area by mixing the solution of fullerene and sucrose molecules in the nanochannels of 3D mesoporous silica, KIT-6 via nanotemplating approach. The addition of sucrose molecules in the synthesis offers a thin layer of carbon between the fullerene molecules which enhances not only the specific surface area and the specific pore volume but also the conductivity of the hybrid materials. The prepared hybrids exhibit 3D mesoporous structure and show a much higher specific surface area than that of the pure mesoporous fullerene. The hybrids materials are used as the electrodes for supercapacitor and Li-ion battery applications. The optimised hybrid sample shows an excellent rate capability and a high specific capacitance of 254 F/g at the current density of 0.5 A/g, which is much higher than that of the pure mesoporous fullerene, mesoporous carbon, activated carbon and multiwalled carbon nanotubes. When used as the electrode for Li-ion battery, the sample delivers the largest specific capacity of 1067 mAh/g upon 50 cycles at the current density of 0.1 A/g with stability. These results reveal that the addition of carbon in the mesoporous fullerene with 3D structure makes a significant impact on the electrochemical properties of the hybrid samples, demonstrating their potential for applications in Li-ion battery and supercapacitor devices.

Recent Advances in the Preparation and Applications of Organo-functionalized Porous Materials.

Organo-functionalized materials with porous structure offer unique adsorption, catalytic and sensing properties. These unique properties make them available for various applications, including catalysis, CO2 capture and utilization, and drug delivery. The properties and the performance of these unique materials can be altered with suitable modifications on their surface. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the preparation and applications of organo-functionalized porous materials with different structures. Initially, a brief historical overview of functionalized porous materials is presented, and the subsequent sections discuss the recent developments and applications of various functional porous materials. In particular, the focus is given on the various methods used for the preparation of organo-functionalized materials and their important roles in the heterogenization of homogeneous catalysts. A special emphasis is also given on the applications of these functionalized porous materials for catalysis, CO2 capture and drug delivery.

Carbon Nanoflakes and Nanotubes from Halloysite Nanoclays and their Superior Performance in CO2 Capture and Energy Storage.

Nanoporous carbon (HNC) with a flake and nanotubular morphology and a high specific surface area is prepared by using natural halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), a low-cost and naturally available clay material with a mixture of flaky and tubular morphology. A controlled pore-filling technique is used to selectively control the porosity, morphology, and the specific surface area of the HNC. Activated nanoporous carbon (AHNC) with a high specific surface area is also prepared by using HNT together with the activation process with zinc chloride (ZnCl2). HNC exhibits flakes and tubular morphologies, which offer a high specific surface area (837 m2/g). The specific surface area of AHNC is 1646 m2/g, 74 times greater than the specific surface area of pure HNT (22.5 m2/g). These data revealed that the single-step activation combined with the nanotemplating results in creating a huge impact on the specific surface area of the HNC. Both HNC and AHNC are employed as adsorbents for CO2 adsorption at different pressures and adsorption temperatures. The CO2 adsorption capacity of AHNC is 25.7 mmol/g at 0 °C, which is found to be significantly higher than that of activated carbon (AC), mesoporous carbon (CMK-3), mesoporous carbon nitride (MCN-1), and multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT). AHNC is also tested as an electroactive material and demonstrates good supercapacitance, cyclic stability, and high capacitance retention. Specific capacitance of AHNC in the aqueous electrolyte is 197 F/g at 0.3 A/g, which is higher than that of AC, MWCNT, and CMK-3. The technique adopted for the preparation of both HNC and AHNC is quite unique and simple, has the potential to replace the existing highly expensive and sophisticated mesoporous silica-based nanotemplating strategy, and could also be applied for the fabrication of series of advanced nanostructures with unique functionalities.

Recent advances in functionalized micro and mesoporous carbon materials: synthesis and applications.

Functionalized nanoporous carbon materials have attracted the colossal interest of the materials science fraternity owing to their intriguing physical and chemical properties including a well-ordered porous structure, exemplary high specific surface areas, electronic and ionic conductivity, excellent accessibility to active sites, and enhanced mass transport and diffusion. These properties make them a special and unique choice for various applications in divergent fields such as energy storage batteries, supercapacitors, energy conversion fuel cells, adsorption/separation of bulky molecules, heterogeneous catalysts, catalyst supports, photocatalysis, carbon capture, gas storage, biomolecule detection, vapour sensing and drug delivery. Because of the anisotropic and synergistic effects arising from the heteroatom doping at the nanoscale, these novel materials show high potential especially in electrochemical applications such as batteries, supercapacitors and electrocatalysts for fuel cell applications and water electrolysis. In order to gain the optimal benefit, it is necessary to implement tailor made functionalities in the porous carbon surfaces as well as in the carbon skeleton through the comprehensive experimentation. These most appealing nanoporous carbon materials can be synthesized through the carbonization of high carbon containing molecular precursors by using soft or hard templating or non-templating pathways. This review encompasses the approaches and the wide range of methodologies that have been employed over the last five years in the preparation and functionalisation of nanoporous carbon materials via incorporation of metals, non-metal heteroatoms, multiple heteroatoms, and various surface functional groups that mostly dictate their place in a wide range of practical applications.

Excellent supercapacitance performance of 3-D mesoporous carbon with large pores from FDU-12 prepared using a microwave method.

Highly ordered and three-dimensional (3-D) mesoporous carbon materials were prepared through a nano-hard templating approach using FDU-12 silica with tunable pore sizes as a template, which was synthesized via a microwave-assisted method. Powder XRD and microscopic techniques such as HR-TEM, HR-SEM, and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques were employed to characterize the structure and textural properties of the prepared mesoporous carbon samples. The characterization results reveal that all the mesoporous carbon samples show a 3-D porous mesostructure with tunable pore diameters (5.7 to 9.4 nm) and a large specific surface area in the range from 451 to 1251 m2 g-1. The supercapacitive behavior of the cubic structured mesoporous carbons was determined using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance and charge-discharge measurements. The cubic mesoporous carbon materials exhibit a superior capacitive performance with a high specific capacitance value of 315.3 F g-1 at the current density of 1 A g-1, which is much higher than that of hexagonally-ordered mesoporous carbon with large pore diameters, activated carbon, and carbon nanotubes. The materials also show excellent cyclic stability and extremely low resistance. The superior specific capacitance of these materials is attributed to the combination of excellent surface properties such as large specific surface area, large pore volume and uniform pore diameter, spherical morphology, and a 3-D porous system with cage-type pores.

Highly Crystalline Mesoporous C60 with Ordered Pores: A Class of Nanomaterials for Energy Applications.

Highly ordered mesoporous C60 with a well-ordered porous structure and a high crystallinity is prepared through the nanohard templating method using a saturated solution of C60 in 1-chloronaphthalene (51 mg mL-1 ) as a C60 precursor and SBA-15 as a hard template. The high solubility of C60 in 1-chloronaphthalene helps not only to encapsulate a huge amount of the C60 into the mesopores of the template but also supports the oligomerization of C60 and the formation of crystalline walls made of C60 . The obtained mesoporous C60 exhibits a rod-shaped morphology, a high specific surface area (680 m2 g-1 ), tuneable pores, and a highly crystalline wall structure. This exciting ordered mesoporous C60 offers high supercapacitive performance and a high selectivity to H2 O2 production and methanol tolerance for ORR. This simple strategy could be adopted to make a series of mesoporous fullerenes with different structures and carbon atoms as a new class of energy materials.

Energy Efficient Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Nitrides with a High Nitrogen Content and Enhanced CO2 Capture Capacity.

Highly ordered mesoporous carbon nitrides (MCN) with 3D structure and a high nitrogen content are successfully prepared for the first time using "uncalcined" mesoporous silica template, KIT-6 and 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole as a single molecular carbon and nitrogen precursor. The prepared MCN with C and N stoichiometry of C3 N5 shows unique CN framework and exhibits the CO2 capture capacity of 5.63 mmol g-1 at 273 K and 30 bar, which is higher than that of MCN with 2D structure and C3 N4 stoichiometry.

Effect of Heat Treatment on the Nitrogen Content and Its Role on the Carbon Dioxide Adsorption Capacity of Highly Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Nitride.

Mesoporous carbon nitrides (MCNs) with rod-shaped morphology and tunable nitrogen contents have been synthesized through a calcination-free method by using ethanol-washed mesoporous SBA-15 as templates at different carbonization temperatures. Carbon tetrachloride and ethylenediamine were used as the sources of carbon and nitrogen, respectively. The resulting MCN materials were characterized with low- and high-angle powder XRD, nitrogen adsorption, high-resolution (HR) SEM, HR-TEM, elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption near-edge structure techniques. The carbonization temperature plays a critical role in controlling not only the crystallinity, but also the nitrogen content and textural parameters of the samples, including specific surface area and specific pore volume. The nitrogen content of MCN decreases with a concomitant increase in specific surface area and specific pore volume, as well as the crystallinity of the samples, as the carbonization temperature is increased. The results also reveal that the structural order of the materials is retained, even after heat treatment at temperatures up to 900 °C with a significant reduction of the nitrogen content, but the structure is partially damaged at 1000 °C. The carbon dioxide adsorption capacity of these materials is not only dependent on the textural parameters, but also on the nitrogen content. The MCN prepared at 900 °C, which has an optimum BET surface area and nitrogen content, registers a carbon dioxide adsorption capacity of 20.1 mmol g-1 at 273 K and 30 bar, which is much higher than that of mesoporous silica, MCN-1, activated carbon, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes.

Clinical profile and outcome of adult Hodgkin lymphoma: Experience from a tertiary care institution.

UNLABELLED: Treatment and outcome of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are the true success story of modern medicine. The data from the developing countries on long-term outcome of patients with HL is sparse. AIMS: Primary objective is to assess the progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary objective are overall survival (OS) and toxicities. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This is a retrospective analysis from the case records from a single institution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Institutional Ethical Committee approval was obtained. Between January 1991 and December 2010, 301 patients (age ≥18 years) underwent treatment at our institution. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Kaplan-Meyer curves were used to calculate the PFS and OS. RESULTS: The median age at presentation was 36 years, range from 19 to 75 years. The male to female ratio was 2.9:1. Seventy-five percent of patients had B symptoms. Majority presented in advanced stage (Stage III and IV) disease (64.7%). Mixed cellularity (74.4%) was the most common histology, followed by nodular sclerosis (13.9%). The most common chemotherapy regimen used was ABVD (61%). CONCLUSIONS: Median follow-up of the cohort was 18.5 months (range 2-225). PFS and OS rate at 5 years is 66.3% and 79.7% respectively.