Functional Biocarbon Nanomaterials from Biomass

碳材料已被用于从炭黑填料到超级导电材料和极强的碳纤维的广泛应用中。碳材料可用作汽车部件、电子设备、储能设备、防护服和航空航天应用的复合材料中的填料、增强剂或导电材料。随着全球对开采旧化石衍生碳及其排放到大气中的担忧加剧，转向可再生形式的碳是不可避免的。从天然前体中获得的可再生碳开启了材料科学的新篇章。 拟议的研究计划旨在了解和发现生物质转化过程中发生的基础科学和机制。用于本研究的原料将选自加拿大树种、农业残余物和木质素，木质素是纸浆和造纸工业的丰富副产品。将对原料生物质进行热处理和化学处理以分离生物碳材料。确定制备高导电性和高发光性生物基碳材料的工艺和机理。通过对加拿大各种原料和工艺参数的分析，了解生产目标功能性生物碳材料的过程。 拟议项目的发现将导致生产具有导电性的生物碳片和具有与当前化石衍生对应物相当的发光特性的生物碳点。这些材料可用作广泛应用的替代品，包括太阳能电池、有机发光二极管（OLED）、燃料电池、电池、超级电容器和透明导电膜。由于生物碳的无毒性质，在医学科学中的其他潜在应用也是可能的。可以用生物碳量子点进行各种生物成像，例如，活细胞中的光学体内成像和实时分子跟踪。 此外，生物碳材料可用作抗癌剂并提供基因/药物递送至细胞。 开发这些生物基碳材料的重要性在于减少加拿大的碳足迹。 所使用的生物碳将对加拿大的绿色技术部门产生积极影响，从长远来看将减少化石燃料的排放。 所使用的资源是可再生的，在加拿大广阔的景观丰富，因此将推动可持续制造业的领导地位向前迈进的未来。

Carbon materials have been used in wide range of applications extending from carbon black fillers to super conductive materials and extremely strong carbon fibres. Carbon materials can be used as a filler, reinforcing agent, or conductive material in composites for automotive parts, electronic devices, energy storage devices, protective clothing and aerospace applications. With the global rise in concerns regarding extraction of old fossil-derived carbon and its emission into the atmosphere, it is inevitable to turn to renewable forms of carbon. Renewable carbon, obtained from natural precursors has opened a new chapter in materials science. The proposed research program aims at understanding and discovering the fundamental science and mechanisms occurring during the conversion of biomass. The feedstock used for this study will be selected from Canadian tree species, agri-residues and lignin, which is an abundant byproduct of the pulp and paper industry. The feedstock biomass will be thermally and chemically treated to isolate bio-carbon materials. The processes and mechanisms to produce bio-based carbon materials with high electrical conductivity and light emitting character will be determined. Several aspects of various Canadian feedstocks and processing parameters will be analyzed to understand the procedure of producing the targeted functional bio-carbon materials. Discoveries of the proposed project will lead to production of bio-carbon sheets with electrical conductivity and bio-carbon dots with light-emission characteristics comparable to the current fossil-derived counterparts. These materials can be used as an alternative in a wide range of applications including solar cells, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), fuel cells, batteries, supercapacitors and transparent conductive films. Other potential applications in the medical sciences are also possible due to the bio-carbon's non-toxic nature. Various biological imaging may be performed with the bio-carbon dots, for instance, optical in vivo imaging and real-time molecular tracking in live cells. Furthermore, the bio-carbon material may be used as anticancer agents and provide gene/drug delivery to cells. The importance of developing these bio-based carbon materials is to reduce Canada's carbon footprint. The bio-carbons used will have a positive impact on Canada's green technology sector, and in the long term will reduce the fossil fuel emissions. The resources used are renewable and plenty in Canada's vast landscape, and thus will drive leadership in sustainable manufacturing sector forward to the future.