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Preparation and characterization of the poplar micro-nano cellulose sustainable carbon spheres

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Abstract 

In this study, cellulose extracted from the factory waste poplar was converted into value-added carbon spheres by means of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC). Oxygen-rich functional group carbon spheres with smooth morphology, good dispersibility, controllable particle size, high carbon content, and high calorific value were prepared under various process conditions. The optimum process conditions for obtaining good shape were temperature 250 ℃, time of 12 h, and cellulose dosage of 1 g. Under these conditions, the produced carbon microspheres exhibited smooth surface, high dispersion, and uniform particles. The Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and elemental analyses indicated that the carbon content was as high as ~ 75% with increasing temperature and time, and the theoretically calculated higher heating values (HHV) were 29.4 MJ/kg. In addition, the H/C and O/C ratios were quite different relative to the raw materials. This demonstrates that the cellulose underwent dehydration, decarboxylation, and demethylation during hydrothermal carbonization to form carbon microspheres with oxygen-rich functional groups. Next, the carbon materials were analyzed by the porous structure of the sample (BET), thermogravimetric analyzer (TG), Raman, and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which further proved that the carbon microspheres were high-concentration aromatized amorphous non-porous carbon materials.

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Funding

This work was support from the Science and Technology Plan Projects of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China (No. 2021GG0074), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region graduate Research and Innovation Funding project (No. B20191134Z), Key scientific research project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Higher Education Science and technology Research (No. NJZZ21065).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ordos Vocational College, Ordos, 017000, China

    Sufen Hao

  2. College Material Science and Art and Design, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, 010018, China

    Sufen Hao, Qian Zhang, Qiang Guo, Pingping Li & Jintian Huang

  3. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory for Sand Shrubs Fibrosis and Energy Development and Utilization, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, 010018, China

    Sufen Hao, Qian Zhang, Qiang Guo, Pingping Li & Jintian Huang

  4. Ordos Zhongjiao Traffic Planning and Design Co., LTD, Ordos, 017000, China

    Yanfeng Shi

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  1. Sufen Hao
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Contributions

Sufen Hao: Overall data collection, analysis of data, and writing. Qian Zhang and Yanfeng Shi: Final compilation of data and design of all figures and tables. Qiang Guo and Pingping Li: Overall modification of manuscript in terms of language, spelling, and decided the way of representation. Jintian Huang: Reviewing and editing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jintian Huang.

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Hao, S., Zhang, Q., Shi, Y. et al. Preparation and characterization of the poplar micro-nano cellulose sustainable carbon spheres. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 9581–9594 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03003-0

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