Facile synthesis of mesoporous carbon material from treated kitchen waste for energy applications
Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Facile synthesis of mesoporous carbon material from treated kitchen waste for energy applications
Prabhsharan Kaur 0 1 2
Subhashini Singh 0 1 2
Gaurav Verma 0 1 2
0 Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, UIEAST, Panjab University , Chandigarh 160014 , India
1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET) , Longowal, Sangrur, Punjab 148106 , India
2 Dr Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering & Technology (Formerly Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology), Panjab University , Sector 14, Chandigarh 160014 , India
3 Gaurav Verma
Biomass is abundant, easily available, and environmentally benign source of C which can be converted to scientifically useful materials by appropriate processing. This work is our attempt to convert the treated kitchen waste and chicken manure into valuable mesoporous carbons, and to check its suitability for energy applications. The samples have been prepared using hightemperature carbonization method, and the results are investigated for physical, chemical, and preliminary electrochemical studies. The synthesized porous carbons have mesoporous size distributions (10.29 nm) along with high-doped N content (9.2 at. %). An increase in the disordered porous structure and, hence, the number of active sites have been observed under field-emission scanning electron microscopy. In the electrochemical studies, a positive shift of −0.104 V has been observed in the oxygen reduction onset potential of the kitchen waste and chicken manure-based mesoporous carbons as compared to the control sample. Interestingly, the electrocatalytic performance is even comparable to the commercial Pt/C-based electrocatalyst. These studies indicate the suitability of the designed electrocatalyst for clean energy devices. Our approach is also an effective way to dispose-off the kitchen waste by modifying it using poultry faeces, which is a remedy to manage large-scale organic waste.
Biomass; Mesoporous carbons; Kitchen waste; Sustainability; N-doping; Poultry faeces
Introduction
A continual use of fossil fuel reserves is leading us towards
an alarming situation, where we have to devise some
alternative means of energy generation. Hence, there are
persistent efforts to replace present-day fuel resources with more
economic, environment-friendly, and advanced alternative
fuels [
1
]. A rapid industrial growth and increasing world
population are adding on to this pressure with each passing
day. In this scenario, most viable and practical approach is
to look back at technologies which were in use before the
advent of using non-renewable sources. Biomass is in use
for various means of energy generation since the beginning
of mankind. The materials such as firewood, crop residues,
manure, or charcoal used in a traditional way have been the
main energy source for most of the human history and still
play relevant roles. It is the biological matter which includes
all living matter on the earth. Biomass-based materials are
indeed advantageous for the three most important reasons:
it is renewable source, hence an everlasting solution for the
developments in the future as compared to conventional
fossil fuels; it is an environment-friendly source of energy as it
releases CO2 and sulphur contents in fewer amounts; and it
is more economic and financially viable as compared to the
costlier fossil fuels [
2
].
Biomass accounts for ~ 10% of the world energy
consumption [
3
]. It mainly consists of cellulose (C6H10O5)x,
hemicelluloses (C5H8O4)m, lignin [C9H10O3(COH3)0.9–1.7]n,
proteins, fats, sugars, water, ash content, etc. Cellulose is
the main constituent of biomass; it is 35–50% of biomass
by weight. Lignin is 15–20% and hemicelluloses are about
20–35% of biomass weight, while the remaining 15–20%
is fats, proteins, ash content, and small extractives [
4
]. In
general, biomass is classified into six sub-groups: wood and
woody biomass, aquatic biomass, contaminated and
industrial biomass waste, herbaceous and agricultural biomass,
animal and human biomass waste, and biomass mixtures
from all these varieties [
5
]. The individual characteristics
of each category of biomass depend upon their physical
properties, ultimate analysis, and proximate analysis. The
properties change in every natural material with time, age,
and growth environment [
6
].
Besides using biomass-based materials as alternative
fuels to the conventional fuels, significant efforts are going
on to utilize biomass and waste materials for several
energybased applications [
7–9
]. One major concern is the
commercialization of clean energy devices such as Fuel cell (FC). A
major hurdle in FC operation is the slow kinetics of oxygen
reduction reaction (ORR) occurring at the cathode. An
electrocatalyst is required to speed it up, and conventionally,
Pt/C is the material of choice for this. However, it is a
costli (...truncated)