Nature-inspired Engineering of High-Performance Nanoporous Carbon Materials for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Applications

用于可持续能源和环境应用的高性能纳米多孔碳材料的受自然启发的工程

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04415
• 负责人: Jia, Charles
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=566507
• 关键词: Nature; inspired; Engineering; Performance; Nanoporous

A major scientific challenge facing today’s world is the ever-increasing demand for natural resources, and the need to manage the negative impact from energy and raw materials production on the environment. The challenge is particularly relevant to Canada where natural resources are fundamentally important to our socio-economic and environmental wellbeing. Directly addressing this challenge, the proposed research program will focus on innovative technologies that maximize the value of natural resources and enhance sustainability. Specifically, we will build technological foundations for novel processes that produce high-performance, low-cost nanoporous carbon materials from natural precursors (e.g. wood of maple or bamboo). Nanoporous carbon materials have been explored for applications from the traditional separation and catalysis to emerging areas like supercapacitors. Readily accessible micropores (< 2nm), conductive carbon matrix and functional carbon surface are key to their performance. Pore accessibility depends on the dimension, size distribution and interconnectivity of pores. A popular strategy for creating nanoporous carbons with defined pore and matrix structures has been to use sp2-bonded carbon atoms as building blocks via chemical-physical routes—a bottom-up approach. However, their large-scale commercial adaptation has been prevented by process complexity coupled with high costs. We will adopt a different, top-down strategy, by creating high-performance nanoporous carbons from biomass with desirable inherent macroporous and complementing it with microporosity and functional surface groups. We have successfully applied this approach to petroleum coke — a by-product produced in the Canadian oilsand industry. Using the industrial by-product, we were able to establish process conditions to produce of a set of nanoporous carbons with unique chemical functionalities and outstanding performance in mercury vapour capture and energy storage in supercapacitors. In the proposed research program, we will shift our focus to nature from the industrial wasteyard, continuing to pursue novel forms and functions of nanoporous carbon for sustainable energy and environmental applications. The anticipated technological and scientific advances can have a significant socio-economic and environmental impact on multiple industrial sectors and benefit society as a whole. First, the biochar-based nanoporous carbons created with these new will enable the next generation of electrical energy storage (EES) devices that are affordable, rapid-charging, long-lived and have high energy and power density. These new EES devices have the potential to significantly enhance alternative energy initiatives - wind power, solar energy, and electrical vehicles. Second, the biochar-based nanoporous carbons optimized for fast ion transport open the possibility of many value-added application for industries, including precious metal recovery, contaminated site remediation, metal value reclamation from electronic waste, new catalysts and carbon dioxide gas separation for sequestration. Third, the new knowledge to be discovered from this research program will help provide new paradigms on biochar utilization. Although the amount of biomass-derived carbon to be used in supercapacitors is likely negligible compared with the amount of biomass available, massive utilization of biochar enabled by many new applications could potentially represent a viable option for carbon sequestration and storage, helping mitigate climate change. Moreover, the proposed program will contribute directly to the education of next generation of engineering researchers and innovators.

当今世界面临的一个重大科学挑战是对自然资源不断增长的需求，以及管理能源和原材料生产对环境的负面影响的需要。这一挑战与加拿大特别相关，因为加拿大的自然资源对我们的社会经济和环境福祉至关重要。直接应对这一挑战，拟议的研究计划将专注于实现自然资源价值最大化和增强可持续性的创新技术。具体地说，我们将为从天然前体(例如枫木或竹子)生产高性能、低成本纳米多孔碳材料的新工艺奠定技术基础。纳米多孔碳材料已被探索应用于从传统的分离和催化到超级电容器等新兴领域。易于获取的微孔(&lt；2 nm)、导电碳基质和功能碳表面是其性能的关键。孔的可及性取决于孔的尺寸、大小分布和相互连通性。制造具有特定孔和基质结构的纳米多孔碳的一种流行策略是通过化学-物理路线使用sp2键合的碳原子作为构建块--一种自下而上的方法。然而，由于工艺的复杂性和高昂的成本，它们的大规模商业适应受到了阻碍。我们将采用一种不同的、自上而下的策略，从具有理想的固有大孔的生物质中创造出高性能的纳米多孔炭，并用微孔率和功能表面基团来补充它。我们已经成功地将这种方法应用于石油焦--一种加拿大石油和工业生产的副产品。利用工业副产品，我们能够建立工艺条件来生产一套具有独特化学功能和在超级电容器中汞蒸气捕获和能量存储方面具有出色性能的纳米多孔碳。在拟议的研究计划中，我们将把重点从工业废物处理转向自然，继续追求纳米多孔碳的新形式和功能，用于可持续能源和环境应用。预期的技术和科学进步可对多个工业部门产生重大的社会经济和环境影响，并使整个社会受益。首先，用这些新材料制造的基于生物炭的纳米多孔炭将使下一代电能存储(EES)设备成为可能，这些设备负担得起、快速充电、寿命长、具有高能量和功率密度。这些新的EES设备有可能显著加强替代能源计划-风能、太阳能和电动汽车。其次，针对快速离子传输而优化的生物炭纳米多孔碳为工业提供了许多增值应用的可能性，包括贵金属回收、污染场地修复、从电子垃圾中回收金属价值、新型催化剂和用于封存的二氧化碳气体分离。第三，从这项研究计划中发现的新知识将有助于为生物炭的利用提供新的范例。尽管用于超级电容器的生物质衍生碳的数量与可用生物质的数量相比可能微不足道，但许多新应用实现的生物炭的大规模利用可能是碳封存和储存的一个可行选择，有助于缓解气候变化。此外，拟议的计划将直接有助于培养下一代工程研究人员和创新者。