Phosphorus-doped porous biomass carbon with ultra-stable performance in sodium storage and lithium storage

Porous Hard Carbon Derived from Indian Trumpet Flower Seeds as a High-Capacity Sodium-Ion Battery Anode Material

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have garnered significant attention as a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their lower cost and abundant availability of natural resources. Hard carbon (HC) is broadly recognized as the most favorable anode material for SIBs because of its superior Na-storage capabilities and economic viability. However, significant challenges persist, such as the limited electrical conductivity, poor cycling stability, and low initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE). In this work, utilizing Indian trumpet flower seeds (ITSs) as a precursor, we successfully developed an innovative HC anode, which delivers a high reversible capacity of 380 mAh g-1, exceptional rate capability with 65% capacity retention at 1500 mA g-1, and high ICE of 89.18%. In addition, it exhibits noteworthy cycling stability, maintaining 98% of its stable capacity after 400 cycles. These improved performances are ascribed to the expanded carbon layer spacing and increased formation of closed mesopores, achieved through a simple and efficient synthetic approach incorporating acid treatment and P-induced pore-forming. This work presents a promising anode material precursor and an innovative synthetic strategy for producing advanced HC anodes for SIBs.

Biomass-based carbon material for next-generation sodium-ion batteries: insights and SWOT evaluation

In recent years, energy storage has significantly transitioned from lithium to sodium ion due to sodium's abundance and economical and optimal redox potential. Biomass-based carbon anode materials are extensively studied in sodium-ion batteries because of their economic advantages and eco-sustainable approach. Their distinctive microstructural characteristics resulting in higher specific capacitance. The present review explores hard carbon and a few emerging sustainable materials derived from various biomass sources. It also covers their production, focusing on micro-structures, morphological defects, and heteroatom doping-related aspects. However, the sodium storage mechanism within carbon anodes, particularly hard carbon, is a subject of debate due to its diverse microstructural states in contrast to the specific layered structure of graphite. It also integrates strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities with threat evaluation by highlighting detailed insights about recent developments in hard carbon. This review also highlights bibliographic analysis through network visualization map of international research collaboration in the field of biomass based anode material for sodium ion battery. It also offers a cohesive framework for advancing biomass-derived hard carbon and other carbon materials as an independent or complementary anode material for next-generation sodium-ion batteries.

Supercapacitor Performance of Activated Carbon from Eucommia Ulmoides Oliver Wood Optimized by the Activation Method

Amid the growing demand for sustainable energy storage, biomass-derived porous carbons have emerged as eco-friendly alternatives to conventional electrode materials. This study shows that activated carbon prepared by one-step activation exhibits an enhanced specific surface area and pore volume. The optimum parameter for ameliorating the structural and electrochemical properties is 60 min of microwave heating. The specific surface area, pore volume, and mesopore volume of the resulting activated carbon (EUAC1-60) achieve 1589.0 m2/g, 0.82 cm3/g, and 0.28 cm3/g, respectively. EUAC1-60 exhibits an exceptional defect degree with an I D/I G value of 0.92 and can provide ample active sites for ion storage. The electrochemical investigation shows that the EUAC1-60 electrode has the highest specific capacitance of 232.92 F/g at a current density of 0.2 A/g. In addition, continuous cycling performance at a current density of 1 A/g validates its exceptional stability with capacitance retention of 89.90% and Coulombic efficiency of 117.21% after 10,000 cycles. The zinc ion hybrid supercapacitor with the EUAC1-60 cathode and Zn foil anode displayed an excellent energy density performance of 95.58 W h/kg at a power density of 64,800 W/kg. This research presents an innovative approach to the fabrication of high-performance activated carbon electrode materials from Eucommia Ulmoides Oliver, demonstrating its promising potential in supercapacitor applications.

Heterogeneous Carbon Designed with Disorder-in-Ordered Nanostructure toward High-Rate and Ultra-stable Sodium Ion Storage

The rate performance of biomass-based hard carbon has always been one of the obstacles to its large-scale use. There are various challenges in improving the rapid conduction of sodium ions at the interface and realizing the efficient utilization of inactive carbon in large current. In this study, a disorder-in-ordered nanostructure carbon front-face coated with hard carbon which forms a heterogeneous carbon is prepared by coulomb adsorption of methylene blue and alkalized kapok fiber. A study on heterogeneous hard carbon material formation is proposed by incorporating heteroatoms at different carbonization temperatures. When the current density increases to 10 A g-1, the obtained carbon material shows stable cycling for 5000 cycles with only a decay rate of 0.056 ‰, which is significantly better than conventional biomass-based hard carbon materials. This work provides insights of synergistic effect into the achievement of superior rate capability, that is the internal heteroatoms facilitates the activation of deep sodium energy storage, while the external well-ordered interface enhances the transport of sodium ions. The evolution of heterogeneous structure is analyzed, offering a novel perspective on the utilization of alkalized kapok for wastewater recovery and energy storage applications.

N, P Co-Doped Hard Carbon Anodes for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries with Enhanced Capacity Retention and Cycle Stability

Compared to the traditional graphite anode, heteroatom-doped polymer carbon materials have high capacity retention due to their high porosity and porous structure. Therefore, they have great potential for application in lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes. In this work, an N, P co-doped precursor polymer material (MBPp), synthesized via a one-pot method using bisphenol-A (C-source), melamine (N-source), and 9,10-Dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (P-source). The resulting N, P-co-doped hard carbon materials (MBPs) were prepared at various pyrolysis temperatures, yielding microporous, mesoporous, and macroporous structures. MBP materials demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance as LIB anodes. Notably, MBP-900 achieved a reversible capacity of 262 mAh g-1 at 1000 mA g-1 (in 0.005-2.0 V voltage range) with a capacity retention rate of 97.1 % after 1000 cycles. These findings highlight the significance of MBP materials, which possess numerous defects, large layer gaps, and excellent cycle stability, in advancing the development of polymer anode materials for LIBs.

Innovative Multielement Modification of Pitch-Derived Two-Dimensional Carbon Nanosheets as Anodes for Superior Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries

The development of advanced anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) using pitch-based carbon materials has the advantages of low cost, high electrical conductivity and easy structural modification. In this research, various well-established modification techniques for petroleum pitch are integrated, including the use of recrystallized NaCl as molten salt template, pretreatment and high-temperature carbonization under a pure oxygen atmosphere, and the introduction of heteroatoms (N and S) by hydrothermal methods. The resulting two-dimensional carbon nanosheets with multielement modification exhibit enhanced Na+ storage properties, thereby bringing higher cycling stability and superior rate performance. Due to its specific structure and chemical composition, NS-P-OPDC exhibited a high reversible capacity of 406.77 mAh g-1 at a current density of 100 mA g-1 and a superior rate performance of 193.20 mAh g-1 at a current density of 3 A g-1 after being applied to the anode of SIB half-cell. Especially, a capacity retention of 97.7% was still achieved after 4000 cycles. Meanwhile, the full-cell assembled by Na3V2(PO4)3 (NVP) cathode and NS-P-OPDC anode could provide a reversible capacity of 235.30 mAh g-1 at a current density of 300 mA g-1. This application proves to advance petroleum pitch-based high-performance electrodes toward greater efficiency in electrochemical energy storage.

High-performance electrosorption of lanthanum ion by Mn3O4-loaded phosphorus-doped porous carbon electrodes via capacitive deionization

Transition-metal-oxide@heteroatom doped porous carbon composites have attracted considerable research interest because of their large theoretical adsorption capacity, excellent electrical conductivity and well-developed pore structure. Herein, Mn3O4-loaded phosphorus-doped porous carbon composites (Mn3O4@PC-900) were designed and fabricated for the electrosorption of La3+ in aqueous solutions. Due to the synergistic effect between Mn3O4 and PC-900, and the active sites provided by Mn-O-Mn, C/PO, C-P-O and Mn-OH, Mn3O4@PC-900 exhibits high electrosorption performance. The electrosorption value of Mn3O4@PC-900 was 45.34% higher than that of PC-900, reaching 93.02 mg g-1. Moreover, the adsorption selectivity reached 87.93% and 89.27% in La3+/Ca2+ and La3+/Na+ coexistence system, respectively. After 15 adsorption-desorption cycles, its adsorption capacity and retention rate were 50.34 mg g-1 and 54.12%, respectively. The electrosorption process is that La3+ first accesses the pores of Mn3O4@PC-900 to generate an electric double layer (EDL), and then undergoes further Faradaic reaction with Mn3O4 and phosphorus-containing functional groups through intercalation, surface adsorption and complexation. This work is hoped to offer a new idea for exploring transition-metal-oxide @ heteroatom doped porous carbon composites for separation and recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) by capacitive deionization.

Carbon nanofibers confined polyoxometalate derivatives as flexible self-supporting electrodes for robust sodium storage

Flexible self-supporting film electrodes, which eliminate the need for additional adhesive, conductive agents, or current collectors, offer significant advantages in terms of mechanical properties, specific capacity, and energy density for energy storage applications. In this study, we successfully developed a flexible film electrode by incorporating derivatives of Mo and Fe-based polyoxometalates (POMs-D) into carbon nanofibers (CNFs). The integration of CNFs significantly enhanced the structural stability of POMs-D, while the internally formed electrical field facilitated efficient electron transfer, resulting in good performance in sodium storage. The film electrode demonstrated a high capacitive contribution of 90.0 % for sodium uptake/release at a scan rate of 1.0 mV s-1. It maintained a capacity of approximately 170 mA h g-1 even after 8000 cycles at a current density of 3.0 A g-1. Moreover, the film electrode exhibited a decent capacity with a 40.0-fold increase in current density, along with high power capability and energy density in sodium-ion hybrid supercapacitors, showcasing the versatility. These findings unveil the structure-functionality relationship and offer an advanced approach for developing high-performance film electrode materials, opening new possibilities in the fields of material science and energy storage.

Electrospun Nanofiber Electrodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Electrospun nanofiber materials have the advantages of good continuity, large specific surface areas, and high structural tunability, which provide many desirable characteristics for lithium-ion battery electrodes. Here, the principles and advantages of electrospinning technology are first elaborated, then the previous studies on high-performance nanofibrous electrode materials prepared by electrospinning technology are comprehensively summarized, and the correlation between 1D nanostructured materials and electrode performances is discussed. Finally, the remaining challenges of nanofibrous electrodes are proposed and some future study directions of this particular area are pointed out. This review provides new enlightenment for the design of nanofibrous electrodes toward high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

Recent Advances in Biomass-Derived Carbon Materials for Sodium-Ion Energy Storage Devices

Compared with currently prevailing Li-ion technologies, sodium-ion energy storage devices play a supremely important role in grid-scale storage due to the advantages of rich abundance and low cost of sodium resources. As one of the crucial components of the sodium-ion battery and sodium-ion capacitor, electrode materials based on biomass-derived carbons have attracted enormous attention in the past few years owing to their excellent performance, inherent structural advantages, cost-effectiveness, renewability, etc. Here, a systematic summary of recent progress on various biomass-derived carbons used for sodium-ion energy storage (e.g., sodium-ion storage principle, the classification of bio-microstructure) is presented. Current research on the design principles of the structure and composition of biomass-derived carbons for improving sodium-ion storage will be highlighted. The prospects and challenges related to this will also be discussed. This review attempts to present a comprehensive account of the recent progress and design principle of biomass-derived carbons as sodium-ion storage materials and provide guidance in future rational tailoring of biomass-derived carbons.

In situ growth of CoO nanosheets on a carbon fiber derived from corn cellulose as an advanced hybrid anode for lithium-ion batteries

A facile method is proposed to prepare CoO/carbon fiber (CoO/CF) hybrids by employing corn cellulose as the biocarbon source for high-performance lithium ion batteries.

N, O and S co-doped hierarchical porous carbon derived from a series of samara for lithium and sodium storage: Insights into surface capacitance and inner diffusion

Efficiently selecting biomass precursors to prepare porous carbon with rich pore structure and heteroatom doping, and clearly distinguishing the storage behavior of Li⁺ and Na⁺ in porous carbon are still the key issues for the development and utilization of biomass-based carbon materials. In this work, four kinds of samara with a hollow structure are used as carbon sources to prepare an N, O and S co-doped hierarchical porous carbon. As the anode for Li/Na-ion batteries, the reversible specific capacity of N, O and S co-doped hierarchical porous carbon (HPC-UP-6) is 1072.3 mAh·g^-1 (0.0744 A·g^-1) and 333.2 mAh·g^-1 (0.1 A·g^-1), respectively. The ultra-high specific capacity reveals the rationality of preferentially selecting plant fruits with hollow structures as precursors. In addition, further comparative studies show that the contribution rate of surface-induced capacitance in sodium-ion batteries is more than 10% higher than that in lithium-ion batteries, indicating that Na⁺ tends to be stored on the surface of porous carbon. This principle of selecting biomass precursors and the new understanding of the storage mechanism of Li⁺/Na⁺ in biomass-based porous carbon can guide the design and preparation of new carbon materials with high capacity and high-rate performance.

Coaxial spinning fabricated high nitrogen-doped porous carbon walnut anchored on carbon fibers as anodic material with boosted lithium storage performance

Commercial graphite with low theoretical capacity cannot meet the ever-increasing requirement demands of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) caused by the rapid development of electric devices. Rationally designed carbon-based nanomaterials can provide a wide range of possibilities to meet the growing requirements of energy storage. Hence, the porous walnut anchored on carbon fibers with reasonable pore structure, N-self doping (10.2 at%) and novel structure and morphology is designed via interaction of inner layer polyethylene oxide and outer layer polyacrylonitrile and polyvinylpyrrolidone during pyrolysis of the obtained precursor, which is fabricated by coaxial electrospinning. As an electrode material, the as-made sample shows a high discharge capacity of 965.3 mA h g^-1 at 0.2 A g^-1 in the first cycle, retains a capacity of 819.7 mA h g^-1 after 500 cycles, and displays excellent cycling stability (475.2 mA h g^-1 at 1 A g^-1 after 1000 cycles). Moreover, the capacity of the electrode material still keeps 260.5 mA h g^-1 at 5 A g^-1 after 1000 cycles. Therefore, the obtained sample has a bright application prospect as a high performance anode material for LIBs. Besides, this design idea paves the way for situ N-enriched carbon material with novel structure and morphology by coaxial electrospinning.

Hierarchically Porous Carbon Derived from Biomass Reed Flowers as Highly Stable Li-Ion Battery Anode

As lithium-ion battery (LIB) anode materials, porous carbons with high specific surface area are highly required because they can well accommodate huge volume expansion/contraction during cycling. In this work, hierarchically porous carbon (HPC) with high specific surface area (~1714.83 m2 g-1) is synthesized from biomass reed flowers. The material presents good cycling stability as an LIB anode, delivering an excellent reversible capacity of 581.2 mAh g-1 after cycling for 100 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g-1, and still remains a reversible capacity of 298.5 mAh g-1 after cycling for 1000 cycles even at 1000 mA g-1. The good electrochemical performance can be ascribed to the high specific surface area of the HPC network, which provides rich and fast paths for electron and ion transfer and provides large contact area and mutual interactions between the electrolyte and active materials. The work proposes a new route for the preparation of low cost carbon-based anodes and may promote the development of other porous carbon materials derived from various biomass carbon sources.

Preparation of phosphorus-doped porous carbon for high performance supercapacitors by one-step carbonization

Biomass-derived porous carbon has received increasing attention as an energy storage device due to its cost-effectiveness, ease of manufacture, environmental friendliness, and sustainability. In this work, phosphorus-doped porous carbon was prepared from biomass sawdust (carbon source) and a small amount of phosphoric acid (P-doping source and gas expanding agent) by one-step carbonization. For comparison, parallel studies without phosphate treatment were performed under the same conditions. Benefiting from the addition of phosphoric acid, the prepared carbon material has higher carbon yield, higher specific area and micropore volume. Due to the heteroatom doping of P in the carbon material, the optimized PC-900 sample not only exhibits high specific capacitances of 292 F g⁻¹ and 169.4 F g⁻¹ at current densities of 0.1 A g⁻¹ and 0.5 A g⁻¹, respectively, but also excellent cycle longevity (98.3% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles) in 1 M H₂SO₄. In addition, the supercapacitor exhibits a high energy density of 10.6 W h kg⁻¹ when the power density is 224.8 W kg⁻¹ at a discharge current density of 0.5 A g⁻¹. This work proposes a sustainable strategy to reuse waste biomass in high-performance and green supercapacitors for advanced energy storage equipment.

P-doped porous carbon can be prepared by one-step carbonization using biomass sawdust impregnated with a small amount of phosphoric acid.