Continuously processing waste lignin into high-value carbon nanotube fibers

Abstract

High value utilization of renewable biomass materials is of great significance to the sustainable development of human beings. For example, because biomass contains large amounts of carbon, they are ideal candidates for the preparation of carbon nanotube fibers. However, continuous preparation of such fibers using biomass as carbon source remains a huge challenge due to the complex chemical structure of the precursors. Here, we realize continuous preparation of high-performance carbon nanotube fibers from lignin by solvent dispersion, high-temperature pyrolysis, catalytic synthesis, and assembly. The fibers exhibit a tensile strength of 1.33 GPa and an electrical conductivity of 1.19 × 105 S m−1, superior to that of most biomass-derived carbon materials to date. More importantly, we achieve continuous production rate of 120 m h−1. Our preparation method is extendable to other biomass materials and will greatly promote the high value application of biomass in a wide range of fields.

Smart fibers and textiles for emerging clothe-based wearable electronics: materials, fabrications and applications

“…It provides an expandable idea for manufacturing highly conductive fibers with excellent mechanical properties. Liu et al 112 achieved the synthesis of high-performance CNT fibers from lignin through a systematic integration of solvent dispersion, high thermal degradation, catalytic synthesis and assembly (Fig. 14d).…”

Functional Carbon from Nature: Biomass‐Derived Carbon Materials and the Recent Progress of Their Applications

“…[165] Liu et al reported the continuous fabrication of CNT fibers from waste lignin by solvent dispersion, high-temperature pyrolysis, catalytic reaction, and assembly. [166] The production process is illustrated in Figure 5e. The production rate of ligninderived CNT fiber is up to 120 m h −1 and CNT fiber possesses a high tensile strength of 1.33 GPa as well as an electrical conductivity of 1.19 × 10 5 S m −1 .…”

“…e) Synthesis mechanism from lignin to CNT fibers and its respective processing schematic. Reproduced with permission [166]. Copyright 2022, The authors, Springer Nature.…”

“…f) Schematic of the "tap" type growth model of lignin derived CNTs. Reproduced with permission [166]. Copyright 2022, The authors, Springer Nature.…”

Nickel‐promoted Electrocatalytic Graphitization of Biochars for Energy Storage: Mechanistic Understanding using Multi‐scale Approaches

“…Biomass resources are recently considered as an alternative to petroleum‐based resources and attract widespread attention in the development of sustainable energy sources [1, 2] . As a naturally abundant polymeric material extracted from biomass, [3–7] lignin contains a large number of aromatic ring structures that can be used as precursors for preparing carbon and graphitic materials [8, 9] . However, lignin technology has not been fully developed to date [10, 11] .…”