Anuchi, S.O., Campbell, K.L.S. and Hallett, J.P. orcid.org/0000-0003-3431-2371 (2023) Effects of the Ionic Liquid Structure on porosity of lignin-derived carbon materials. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 11 (42). pp. 15228-15241. ISSN 2168-0485
Abstract
Converting lignin into advanced porous carbon materials, with desirable surface functionalities, can be challenging. While lignin-derived carbons produced by pyrolysis at >600 °C develop porosity, they also simultaneously lose nearly all their surface functional groups. By contrast, pyrolysis of lignin at lower temperatures (e.g., <400 °C) results in the formation of nonporous char that retains some surface functionalities. However, copyrolysis of lignin with some ionic liquids (ILs) at lower temperatures offers an opportunity to produce porous carbon materials with both large surface areas and an abundance of surface functional groups. This study investigates the effects of IL properties (solubility, thermal, and ionic size) on the specific surface areas of lignin-derived carbons produced by copyrolysis of lignin and ILs at 350–400 °C for 20 min. It was found that ILs that have bulky anions and small cation sizes can induce porosity in lignin-derived carbons with large surface areas. Among 16 ILs that were tested, [C2MIm][NTF2] demonstrated the best performance; the inclusion of it in the copyrolysis process resulted in lignin-derived carbons with ∼528 m2 g–1 and 0.48 cm3 g–1. Lignin-derived carbons produced using no IL, [C2MIm][NTF2], and [C4MIm][OTF] were further characterized for morphology, interfacial chemical, and elemental properties. The copyrolysis of lignin and [C2MIm][NTF2], and [C4MIm][OTF] resulted in doping of heteroatoms (N and S) on the porous carbon materials during pyrolysis reaction. The present findings contribute to a better understanding of the main property of ILs responsible for creating porosity in lignin carbon during pyrolysis.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | lignin slow pyrolysis ionic liquids ionic liquid structural properties and lignin-derived carbons |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 30 Oct 2023 14:43 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2023 14:43 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c03035 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:204698 |