Thermochemical Activation of Wood with NaOH, KOH and H<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> for the Synthesis of Nitrogen-Doped Nanoporous Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Reaction
Galina Dobele,
Aleksandrs Volperts,
Ance Plavniece,
Aivars Zhurinsh,
Daina Upskuviene,
Aldona Balciunaite,
Gediminas Niaura,
Luis César Colmenares-Rausseo,
Loreta Tamasauskaite-Tamasiunaite,
Eugenijus Norkus
Affiliations
Galina Dobele
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes Str. 27, LV-1006 Riga, Latvia
Aleksandrs Volperts
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes Str. 27, LV-1006 Riga, Latvia
Ance Plavniece
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes Str. 27, LV-1006 Riga, Latvia
Aivars Zhurinsh
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes Str. 27, LV-1006 Riga, Latvia
Daina Upskuviene
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Sauletekio Ave. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Aldona Balciunaite
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Sauletekio Ave. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Gediminas Niaura
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Sauletekio Ave. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Luis César Colmenares-Rausseo
SINTEF Industry, Sustainable Energy Technology, Strindvegen 4, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway
Loreta Tamasauskaite-Tamasiunaite
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Sauletekio Ave. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Eugenijus Norkus
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Sauletekio Ave. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Carbonization of biomass residues followed by activation has great potential to become a safe process for the production of various carbon materials for various applications. Demand for commercial use of biomass-based carbon materials is growing rapidly in advanced technologies, including in the energy sector, as catalysts, batteries and capacitor electrodes. In this study, carbon materials were synthesized from hardwood using two carbonization methods, followed by activation with H3PO4, KOH and NaOH and doping with nitrogen. Their chemical composition, porous structure, thermal stability and structural order of samples were studied. It was shown that, despite the differences, the synthesized carbon materials are active catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions. Among the investigated carbon materials, NaOH-activated samples exhibited the lowest Tafel slope values, of −90.6 and −88.0 mV dec–1, which are very close to the values of commercial Pt/C at −86.6 mV dec–1.
