Summary
The increasing plastic pollution and dwindling supply of fossil fuels have ignited research on the use of waste for generation of renewable energy and its reliable storage systems. This study investigates the feasibility of developing multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) from flexible plastic packaging, as a prospective electrode material for the application in supercapacitors. The MWCNTs derived from flexible plastic packaging waste are functionalized using nitric acid to introduce oxygenated functional groups at their surfaces. Then, the MWCNTs are utilized as electrode material in supercapacitors, and their performance is compared with commercial MWCNTs. The results indicate that the as‐prepared MWCNTs exhibit superior capacitive performance as compared to commercial MWCNTs. Moreover, the functionalized MWCNTs demonstrate an improved capacitive performance among all the samples and display a double capacitance value as compared to commercial MWCNTs which is attributed to their higher electrochemical activity and faster charge transfer. These findings suggest that MWCNTs synthesized from flexible plastic packaging waste can be a superior alternate to the commercial MWCNTs. If developed at commercial scale, this will create a double‐win situation where plastic waste is reduced and cost‐effective high‐performance electrodes are developed for energy storage applications.
Using six representative feedstocks as carbonaceous precursors, various mesophase pitches and their derived cokes were obtained by a heat-soaking method at a temperature range of 400−450 °C and a pyrolysis treatment at 900 °C, respectively. The optical texture and microstructure of the different mesophase pitches and their derived cokes were characterized by polarized-light microscope, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray diffraction. The results show that the formation and development abilities of liquid crystalline mesophase are obviously different for the various feedstocks. C 9 aromatic hydrocarbons and petroleum-derived paving pitch possess relatively high thermo-chemical reactivity due to the existence of low molecular substances and aliphatic groups, leading to form liquid crystalline mesophase easier and faster than those of naphthalene synthetic pitch and coal tar-based impregnating pitch under a similar condition, which however is undesirable to develop a bulk mesophase. Anthracene possesses a characteristic of forming a homogeneous bulk mesophase with a streamline texture under a suitable condition. The liquid crystalline transformation behavior of C 5 −C 9 aromatic hydrocarbons is unexpectedly similar to that of naphthalene synthetic pitch and markedly different from that of C 9 aromatic hydrocarbons. Carbonaceous precursors have a significant effect on the anisotropic content and the optical texture of the mesophase pitch products, which leads to the microstructure variety of the resultant cokes. Fine-grained and coarse-grained mosaic textures are, respectively, present in the cokes derived from C 9 aromatic hydrocarbons and petroleum-derived paving pitch. The cokes derived both from coal tar-based impregnating pitch and from C 5 −C 9 aromatic hydrocarbons possess a supra mosaic texture mingled with a local flow-induced orientation domain. A well-oriented lamellar texture is clearly found in the cokes derived from anthracene and naphthalene synthetic pitch.
Pd-WO3 nanosheets were synthesized through a one-step hydrothermal method using Na2PdCl4 solution as the palladium source and sodium tungstate as the tungsten source, and were used to detect acetone.
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