A flexible air electrode (FAE) with both high oxygen electrocatalytic activity and excellent flexibility is the key to the performance of various flexible devices, such as Zn-air batteries. A facile two-step method, mild acid oxidation followed by air calcination that directly activates commercial carbon cloth (CC) to generate uniform nanoporous and super hydrophilic surface structures with optimized oxygen-rich functional groups and an enhanced surface area, is presented here. Impressively, this two-step activated CC (CC-AC) exhibits superior oxygen electrocatalytic activity and durability, outperforming the oxygen-doped carbon materials reported to date. Especially, CC-AC delivers an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential of 360 mV at 10 mA cm −2 in 1 m KOH, which is among the best performances of metal-free OER electrocatalysts. The practical application of CC-AC is presented via its use as an FAE in a flexible rechargeable Zn-air battery. The bendable battery achieves a high open circuit voltage of 1.37 V, a remarkable peak power density of 52.3 mW cm −3 at 77.5 mA cm −3 , good cycling performance with a small chargedischarge voltage gap of 0.98 V and high flexibility. This study provides a new approach to the design and construction of high-performance selfsupported metal-free electrodes.

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The multi-elemental composition, surface texture and morphology of biochar, produced by pyrolysis at 300, 350, 400 and 450 °C from freshwater macroalga Cladophora glomerata, as a biosorbent of toxic metals was examined with Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. It was found that the yield of pyrolysis was inversely proportional to temperature: for 300 °C it was 63%, whereas for 450 °C—47%. The proximate analysis revealed that also biochar’s moisture and volatile matter was inversely proportional to temperature. The content of ash increased with temperature. All biochars were characterized by a similar total pore area of about 20 m2 g−1. FT-IR analysis showed that all biochars peaked at 3500–3100 cm−1 which was attributed to O–H stretching of the hydroxyl groups, at 2850–2970 cm−1, stretching vibrations of C–H bonds in aliphatic CH2 and CH groups, at 1605 cm−1, stretching vibrations from C=C of aromatics, at 1420 cm−1, bending oscillations from CH2, at about 1111 cm−1, stretching vibrations of Si–O, at 618 cm−1, vibrations from Fe–O bonds, and at 475 cm−1—Si–O–Si deformation vibrations. The biosorption properties of biochar towards Cr(III) ions were examined in kinetic studies. The biosorption capacity of biochar increased with an increase of pyrolysis temperature: the highest was for biochar obtained at 450 °C—87.1 mg Cr(III) g−1 and the lowest at 300 °C—45.9 mg g−1. Cladophora biochar also demonstrated a good ability to simultaneously remove metal ions from a multi-metal system, e.g., wastewater. The removal efficiency for Cr(III) was 89.9%, for Cu(II) 97.1% and for Zn(II) 93.7%. The biochar derived from waste-freshwater macroalgae can be a potent and eco-friendly alternative adsorptive material.

Miscanthus × Giganteus is an excellent candidate for energy cultivation. Here we report, for the first time, the results of the pyrolysis of Miscanthus × Giganteus straw or pellets both in tubular reactor (3-6 g) and in rotary kiln (10-30 g). At 400-600• C the fractions obtained from both reactors are: solid 16-25 (wt.%); liquids 25-40; water 15-20 and gases 15-50. GC-MS analyses of pyrolysis liquids reveal the occurrence of phenolic derivatives and ethanol from lignin, furanic and linear oxygenated compounds from cellulose and hemicellulose. Finally the chars produced by the pyrolysis of M × G pellets in rotary kiln present good calorific values close to 29,000 J/g. Additionally, activated carbons with a BET surface area as high as 800-900 m 2 /g are produced from pellets. These results indicate that chars have a good potential either for energy production, e.g. briquetting, or as adsorbents precursors.

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