Spongy porous carbon nanosheets obtained by one-step oxidation-activation of asphalt with KHC2O4 activator: Application in the cathode of zinc storage devices

Cen Li; Lunjing Yan; Miaolin Lv; Meijun Wang; Jiao Kong; Weiren Bao; Liping Chang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168519

Spongy porous carbon nanosheets obtained by one-step oxidation-activation of asphalt with KHC₂O₄ activator: Application in the cathode of zinc storage devices

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jan 20:909:168519. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168519. Epub 2023 Nov 13.

Authors

Cen Li¹, Lunjing Yan², Miaolin Lv¹, Meijun Wang¹, Jiao Kong¹, Weiren Bao¹, Liping Chang³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, College of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China; Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, College of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China; Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China. Electronic address: yanlunjing@tyut.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, College of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China; Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China. Electronic address: lpchang@tyut.edu.cn.

PMID: 37967627
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168519

Abstract

Porous carbon (PC) is widely used in Zn-based electrochemical devices (e.g., zinc ion capacitors and zinc iodine batteries), whose synthesis by conventional methods often leads to severe corrosion and high energy consumption. A novel activator, KHC₂O₄, was selected to activate three types of asphalt precursors (medium/high-temperature coal asphalts and petroleum asphalt) to obtain three kinds of PCs (MCA-C, HCA-C, and PA-C) via a green routine. Meanwhile, we also explored the chemical composition of asphalt on the structure, morphology, and electrochemical properties of PCs. Three asphalt samples from different sources are all feasible to synthesize porous carbon nanosheets by the convenient one-step oxidation-activation method using a KHC₂O₄ activator attenuating the conjugation effect of asphalt and reducing energy consumption. Among them, PA-C obtained from petroleum asphalt presents a unique twisted spongy sheet-like structure with the help of the foaming function from KHC₂O₄, which is favorable for ion storage. PA-C possesses a high specific capacitance of up to 348.1 F/g (0.5 A/g) in a three-electrode system. The ZIC (Zn ion capacitor) with the cathode selected PA-C exhibits a 184.2 mAh/g (0.1 A/g) specific capacity and high energy density of 147.4 Wh/kg (100 W/kg). Moreover, PA-C/I obtained by compositing PA-C with iodine also achieves 250.9 mAh/g in the cathode of ZIOB (zinc-iodine battery). Consequently, this work has successfully realized the transformation of cheap asphalt into high-value-added functional materials.

Keywords: Asphalt-based porous carbon; KHC(2)O(4) activator; One-step oxidation-activation route; Zinc iodine battery; Zinc ion capacitor.