One-pot synthesis of biomass-derived porous carbons for multipurpose energy applications

Abstract

Biomass-derived porous carbons with developed porosity, tunable microstructures and surface chemistry, good chemical stability, and excellent electronic conductivity have been widely developed for multipurpose applications. Compared to the conventional carbonization followed by activation process, the integrated carbonization and activation (one-pot) process can simplify the synthesis procedure, reduce energy consumption and the production cost. Moreover, biomass is directly mixed with chemical activators, which have considerable catalytic activities in improving the quality of bio-oil and syngas during a high temperature process. This paper reviewed the one-pot synthesis of porous carbon materials from biomass. The developments and challenges of these porous carbon materials in energy storage and conversion are discussed to clarify their structure–function relationships. Physicochemical properties of biomass-derived porous carbons are generally affected by several factors such as biomass type, activating agent, heating method, synthesis conditions, and heteroatom doping process. An ideal strategy for the synthesis of porous carbons should be rationally designed on the basis of understanding the physicochemical properties and morphology structure of biomass. Further studies are required to develop sustainable and cost-effective activation strategies for producing biomass-derived porous carbons with tunable characteristics such as high specific surface area, hierarchical pore structure, and appropriate heteroatom-doping, which have high potential in frontier energy applications such as CO₂ capture and electrochemical energy storage (e.g., supercapacitors and rechargeable ion batteries) and conversion (e.g., water splitting and CO₂RR) for boosting carbon neutrality. Finally, future challenges are proposed with the aim of promoting the one-pot synthesis of porous carbons toward industrial application.