NH3-activated polyaniline for use as a high performance electrode material in supercapacitors

Radially aligned hierarchical N-doped porous carbon beads derived from oil-sand asphaltene for long-life water filtration and wastewater treatment

The application of waste-derived highly efficient adsorbent for organic pollutants removal from water and wastewater is presented. Highly porous carbon beads with radially aligned macrochannels were prepared from asphaltene. Well-ordered inwardly aligned macrovoids favored solute diffusion and maximized the liquid accommodation capacity. A further N-doping could modulate the sorbent hydrophilicity leading to an outstanding absorption performance for a range of organic solvents and oily chemicals. N-doped carbon beads were effective sorbents of lopinavir (LNV) and ritonavir (RNV) from water and wastewater. The process of sorption was fast, and the highest removal was noted for RNV than LPV. N-doping favored LNV and RNV adsorption due to the increased porous structure of N-doped asphaltene beads. The chemisorption of both LPV and RTV was a rate-limiting step. The presence of co-pollutants in treated wastewater enhanced LPV and RNV removal and an up to 470 % increase was noted. The presence of LPV or RTV in distilled water was not toxic to Aliivibrio fischeri or even can stimulate their growth. However, after the adsorption process, the solution of RTV reduced its toxicity significantly and the final solution was not toxic. The opposite effect was noted for LPV. Given the repeatability, high removal performance, and cost-effectiveness of the asphaltene-based carbon microtubes when compared to other well-known sorbents such as carbon nanotubes, they demonstrated great potential as a low-cost and effective agent for long-life water filtration and wastewater treatment.

N-doped honeycomb-like porous carbon derived from biomass as an efficient carbocatalyst for H2S selective oxidation

3D interconnected porous N-doped carbocatalyst derived from the waste air-laid paper plays as an efficient metal-free catalyst for H₂S removal in super-Claus reaction. The honeycomb-like porous nitrogen-doped carbons are fabricated through a facile impregnation of alkaline solution and NH₃ post-treatment method. The experiments prove that NH₃ post-treatment is an efficient way to improve the catalytic performance, which resulting in outstanding reactivity and stability with highest sulfur formation rate of 496.6 g_sulfurkg_cat.^-1 h^-1 and sulfur yield of 86.7 % in feed gas with high concentration (ca. 10,000 ppm) of H₂S for selective oxidation. Significantly, the optimized pyridinic-N content and defect degree endow the N-doped porous carbon (NPC700) with highest catalytic activity according to the Raman and XPS results. The high surface area and abundant porous structure also contribute to the high catalytic performance by increasing the exposure degree of active site and offering additional active surface. Based on the XPS, SEM, TEM and EDS mapping results, the N-doped porous carbon are proved to be stable catalysts since the morphology and surface chemical environment remain similar after the oxidative desulfurization process.

Fabrication of Hollow Microporous Carbon Spheres from Hyper-Crosslinked Microporous Polymers

Porous carbon materials prepared from the porous organic polymers are currently the subject of extensive investigation. On the basis of their interesting applications, it is highly desirable to develop new synthetic methodologies to obtain carbon materials with controllable pore size and morphology. Herein, a facile synthesis of hollow microporous carbon spheres (HCSs) from hollow microporous organic capsules (HMOCs) with a good control over the pore morphology, hollow cavity, and the shell thickness is reported. The highly porous hollow carbon spheres are prepared by the pyrolysis of HMOCs-based microporous polymers. The synthetic parameters, such as hypercrosslinking and pyrolysis conditions, are optimized to modify the porous structures and the properties. The morphology and porosity as well as energy storage applications of the microporous structures HCSs, derived through a combination of divinylbenzene-crosslinking and micropore-generating hypercrosslinking, are discussed. These findings provide a new benchmark for fabricating well-defined HCSs with great promise for various applications.

Porous WO3–carbon nanofibers: high-performance and recyclable visible light photocatalysis

Template-free porous carbon nanofibers embedded with WO₃ (WO₃–CNF) were prepared by combining electrospinning and carbonization.