Temperature-Dependent Conversion of Magnesium Citrate into Nanoporous Carbon Materials for Superior Supercapacitor Application by a Multitemplate Carbonization Method

Enhanced capacitive removal of hardness ions by hierarchical porous carbon cathode with high mesoporosity and negative surface charges

Capacitive deionization (CDI), as a promising desalination technology, has been widely applied for water purification, heavy metal removal and water softening. In this study, the hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) with extremely large specific surface area (∼1636 m² g^-1), high mesoporosity and negative surface charges, was successfully prepared by one-step carbonization of magnesium citrate and acid etching. HPC carbonized at 800 ℃ exhibited an excellent specific capacitance (207.2 F g^-1). The negative surface charge characteristic of HPC was demonstrated by potential of zero charge test. With HPC-800 as a CDI cathode, the super high adsorption capacity of hardness ions (Mg²⁺: 472 μmol g^-1, Ca²⁺: 425 μmol g^-1) with ultrafast adsorption rate was realized, attributed to its abundant mesoporous structure and negative surface charges. The priority order of ion adsorption on HPC in the multi-component salt solution was Mg²⁺ > Ca²⁺ > K⁺ ≈ Na⁺. The desalination and softening of the actual brackish water have been simultaneously achieved by three-cell CDI stack after four times of adsorption, with 63% decrease of total dissolved solids and 76% reduction of hardness. The current HPC material with outstanding adsorption performance for hardness ions shows great potential in brackish water purification.

Temperature-dependent magnesium citrate modified formation of MgO nanoparticles biochar composites with efficient phosphate removal

Nano-MgO biochar composites (nMBCs) have been considered as potential adsorbents for phosphate removal from aqueous solution. It is an effective strategy to improve P removal efficiency that adjustment of the size, distribution and crystallinity of MgO particles embedded into the carbon matrix. Herein, we prepared a highly efficient phosphate adsorbent by co-pyrolysis of lotus seedpod and magnesium citrate and studied its adsorption mechanisms. Results showed that the uniformly dispersed MgO nanoparticle was formed on the surface of nMBCs with the temperature increasing, with the particles size ranging from 3 to 10 nm. Furthermore, high temperature promoted the formation of a large amount of reactive lattice oxygen, which was demonstrated to be the main active adsorption site, thus the phosphate immobilization capacity of nMBCs was greatly improved with the pyrolysis temperature increasing from 450 °C to 750 °C. Besides, some stable CO bonds were formed due to the catalysis of Mg²⁺, which could bond to HPO₄^2-/H₂PO₄^- by hydrogen bond, enhancing the adsorption performance. The isotherm adsorption experiment showed that MBC-750 achieved an excellent phosphorus adsorption amount of 452.752 mg-P/g. The effectiveness of nMBCs is enhanced and a method for producing an effective nanocomposite adsorbent material for removing phosphate from wastewater is provided.

Polyacrylamide-derived carbon materials: outstanding enhancement of supercapacitor capacitance simply by introducing redox additive of p-aminobenzenesulfonate into KOH electrolyte

A simple but efficient redox additive of sodium p-aminobenzenesulfonate has been incorporated into KOH electrolyte, which can largely elevate the capacitances of carbon-based supercapacitors.