Black perspectives for a green future: hydrothermal carbons for environment protection and energy storage

Abstract

This perspective review paper provides an overview on recently developed carbon material technology synthesised from the hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) approach, with a particular focus on the carbon formation mechanism, perspectives on large scale production, nanostructuring, functionalisation and applications. Perceptions on how this technology will be developed especially with regard to application fields where the use of HTC-derived materials could be extended will also be introduced and discussed.

Biomass-derived renewable carbon materials for electrochemical energy storage

“…HTC has been proven to be a low-cost process that derives porous carbonaceous materials directly from biomass materials [29,75]. However, as compared to ACs, the HTC-derived carbonaceous materials exhibit less pores and low specific surface area, which is not desirable for the applications such as catalysis, adsorption or energy storage, in which controlled porosity at the nanometer scale is preferred.…”

“…bioethanol and biodiesel) to replace the fossil fuels [24], but also converted into 'green' carbon materials by physical activation, chemical activation or hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) methods [25][26][27]. In fact, many carbon materials have been derived from biomass precursors, including porous carbon and nanostructured carbons with excellent conductivity and rich porosity, and exhibit potential for energy storage, catalysis and environmental purification/remediation [28,29]. Recently, inspired by natural processes (coalification and photosynthesis) and natural structures (shells and plant tissues), many efforts have been devoted to optimizing synthesis routes to produce activated carbon materials from renewable natural resources with intriguing nanostructures, with the hope to address the urgent energy challenge.…”

Preparation and properties of cotton stalk carbon/gold nanoparticles composite

“…As is known, nanoporous carbon materials with high surface area can be prepared by physical or chemical activation or templating method. [24,25] Herein, we present a universal method to prepare the carbon material with high surface area and abundant micropores. Activated carbon powder with a very high surface area is a promising candidate for the preparation of catalysts carriers.…”

One-step Preparation of Carbonaceous Solid Acid Catalysts by Hydrothermal Carbonization of Fructose for Cellulose Hydrolysis

“…它是以葡萄 糖(或淀粉、 纤维素等)为前驱物, 以水作溶剂, 在较低温 度下(180～250 ℃)制备碳材料, 目前被广泛应用于催 化、吸附、能源存储等领域的研究中 [15] . 在我们之前的 工作中 [13] , 采用葡萄糖的水热碳化在 180 ℃下制备得 到碳微球, 再用浓硫酸对其进行磺化以引入磺酸基, 所 获得的磺酸化的碳材料对纤维素的水解显示了良好的 催化活性, 但是磺化过程中硫酸的使用仍然会引起一系 列的环境问题.…”