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A highly pyridinic N-doped carbon from macroalgae with multifunctional use toward CO2 capture and electrochemical applications

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Abstract

A highly pyridinic N-doped carbon with total N-species of ~ 15.5 at.% and surface area of ~ 1100 m2/g was obtained from marine biowaste, Enteromorpha prolifera, via hydrothermal carbonization and a mild KOH activation, using melamine as nitrogen source. This offers a simple pathway for large-scale synthesis of N-doped carbon with partial spheres verified from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, showing great perspective in multifunctional activities for carbon capture, oxygen reduction reaction, and supercapacitor. The carbon shows CO2 uptake of ~ 3 mmol/g under ambient conditions with isosteric heat of adsorption up to 40 kJ/mol, in addition to a large capacitance of 214 F/g at 0.5 A/g in 6 M KOH as electrode for supercapacitor. The supercapacitor exhibits superior cycling durability of 98% retention at 2 A/g after 10,000 cycles. Furthermore, the carbon as catalyst also exhibits good stability and resistance to methanol crossover as compared to commercial Pt/C catalyst, followed with a dominant 4e− transfer process.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21506184), China Scholarship Council (201708430093), PhD Startup of XTU (15QDZ13), and Hunan 2011 Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Engineering with Environmental Benignity and Effective Resource Utilization. Dr. Cai also thanks Prof. Maria-Magdalena Titirici worked at Queen Mary University of London for her help on the measurements and discussions during the one-year academic visiting stage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Meng Ren, Tianyun Zhang, Ying Wang, Ziyang Jia & Jinjun Cai

  2. School of Engineering Materials and Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK

    Jinjun Cai

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  1. Meng Ren
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Correspondence to Jinjun Cai.

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Ren, M., Zhang, T., Wang, Y. et al. A highly pyridinic N-doped carbon from macroalgae with multifunctional use toward CO2 capture and electrochemical applications. J Mater Sci 54, 1606–1615 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2927-7

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