Transforming Chimney Soot via Stochastic Polymerization for Active Electrode Coating

Abstract

A polymerization procedure is presented to increase the molecular weight of hydrocarbons in household chimney soot without thermal treatment at high temperatures. Pristine soot was subject to chlorination, with half of it treated with magnesium (Mg-plates) to create random-type Grignard reagents (R-Mg-Cl) in diethyl ether media. Mixing the Grignard reagent and the rest of the halogenated soot material created new C-C bonds, thus increasing the molecular weight of the final product. The obtained stochastically polymerized soot (SPS) was investigated using Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy and XPS and was subjected to electrochemical testing as an assembled supercapacitor with a KOH electrolyte. Results show significant carbon structure differences due to the chemical procedures and newly created functional groups in the soot. Such functional groups could increase the capacity of supercapacitors, creating pseudo-capacitance by participating in redox reactions. The results also unveiled removing any random contaminations in the pristine soot and obtaining a more uniform final product containing hydrocarbons with longer chains, thus increasing the molecular weight.