Carbon Materials Prepared from Invading Pelagic Sargassum for Supercapacitors' Electrodes

Since 2011, substantial amounts of pelagic Sargassum algae have washed up along the Caribbean beaches and the Gulf of Mexico, leading to negative impacts on the economy and the environment of those areas. Hence, it is now crucial to develop strategies to mitigate this problem while valorizing such invasive biomass. This work deals with the successful exploitation of this pelagic Sargassum seaweed for the fabrication of carbon materials that can be used as electrodes for supercapacitors. Pelagic Sargassum precursors were simply pyrolyzed at temperatures varying from 600 to 900 °C. The resultant carbonaceous materials were then extensively characterized using different techniques, such as nitrogen adsorption for textural characterization, as well as X-ray photoelectron (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to understand their structures and functionalities. The electrochemical properties of the carbon materials were also tested for their performance as supercapacitors using cyclic voltammetry (CV), the galvanostatic method and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analyses (EIS). We managed to have a large specific surface, i.e., 1664 m2 g-1 for biochar prepared at 800 °C (CS800). Eventually, CS800 turned out to exhibit the highest capacitance (96 F g-1) over the four samples, along with the highest specific surface (1664 m2 g-1), with specific resistance of about 0.07 Ω g -1.

Adsorption of Hexavalent Chromium Using Activated Carbon Produced from Sargassum ssp.: Comparison between Lab Experiments and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Adsorption is one of the most successful physicochemical approaches for removing heavy metal contaminants from polluted water. The use of residual biomass for the production of adsorbents has attracted a lot of attention due to its cheap price and environmentally friendly approach. The transformation of Sargassum-an invasive brown macroalga-into activated carbon (AC) via phosphoric acid thermochemical activation was explored in an effort to increase the value of Sargassum seaweed biomass. Several techniques (nitrogen adsorption, pHPZC, Boehm titration, FTIR and XPS) were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of the activated carbons. The SAC600 3/1 was predominantly microporous and mesoporous (39.6% and 60.4%, respectively) and revealed a high specific surface area (1695 m2·g-1). To serve as a comparison element, a commercial reference activated carbon with a large specific surface area (1900 m2·g-1) was also investigated. The influence of several parameters on the adsorption capacity of AC was studied: solution pH, solution temperature, contact time and Cr(VI) concentration. The best adsorption capacities were found at very acid (pH 2) solution pH and at lower temperatures. The adsorption kinetics of SAC600 3/1 fitted well a pseudo-second-order type 1 model and the adsorption isotherm was better described by a Jovanovic-Freundlich isotherm model. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations confirmed the experimental results and determined that hydroxyl and carboxylate groups are the most influential functional groups in the adsorption process of chromium anions. MD simulations also showed that the addition of MgCl2 to the activated carbon surface before adsorption experiments, slightly increases the adsorption of HCrO4- and CrO42- anions. Finally, this theoretical study was experimentally validated obtaining an increase of 5.6% in chromium uptake.

In vitro and in vivo assessment of a CLD sequestration strategy in Nitisol using contrasted carbonaceous materials

Chlordecone (Kepone) (CLD) is a highly persistent pesticide formerly used in the French West Indies. High levels of this pesticide may be found in soils and constitute a subsequent source of contamination for outdoor-reared animals due to involuntary ingestion of consistent amounts of soil. In that context, carbonaceous materials may be used to amend soil to efficiently decrease the bioavailability of such organic pollutants. The present study aims to assess the efficiency of diverse amendments of a contaminated Guadeloupe nitisol using two physiologically based approaches. A set of 5 carbonaceous materials (ORBO, DARCO, Coco CO2, Oak P1.5, Sargasso biochar) was tested and used to amend Nitisol at 2% (mass basis). Bioaccessibility assessment was performed using the Ti-PBET assay (n = 4). The relative bioavailability part involved 24 piglets randomly distributed into 6 experimental groups (n = 4). All groups were exposed during 10 days to a contaminated soil, amended or not with carbon-based matrices. A significant decrease in relative bioaccessibility and CLD concentrations in liver were observed for all amended groups in comparison to the control group, with the exception of the biochar amended soil in the bioaccessibility assay (p < 0.05). Extent of this reduction varied from 22 to more than 82% depending on the carbonaceous matrix. This decrease was particularly important for the ORBO™ activated carbon for which bioaccessibility and relative bioavailability were found lower than 10% for both methodologies.

Reduction of chlordecone environmental availability by soil amendment of biochars and activated carbons from lignocellulosic biomass

Chlordecone (kepone or CLD) was formerly used in French West Indies as an insecticide. Despite its formal ban in 1993, high levels of this pesticide are still found in soils. As such, sequestering matrices like biochars or activated carbons (ACs) may successfully decrease the bioavailability of halogenated compounds like CLD when added to contaminated soils. The present study intends (i) to produce contrasted sequestering matrices in order to (ii) assess their respective efficiency to reduce CLD environmental availability. Hence, the work was designed following two experimental steps. The first one consisted at producing different sequestering media (biochars and ACs) via pyrolysis and distinct activation processes, using two lignocellulosic precursors (raw biomass): oak wood (Quercus ilex) and coconut shell (Cocos nucifera). The chemical activation was carried out with phosphoric acid while physical activation was done with carbon dioxide and steam. In the second step, the CLD environmental availability was assessed either in an OECD artificial soil or in an Antillean contaminated nitisol (i.e., 2.1^-1μg CLD per g of soil dry matter, DM), both amended with 5 wt% of biochar or 5 wt% of AC. These both steps aim to determine CLD environmental availability reduction efficiency of these media when added (i) to a standard soil material or (ii) to a soil representative of the Antillean CLD contamination context. Textural characteristics of the derived coconut and oak biochars and ACs were determined by nitrogen adsorption at 77 K. Mixed microporous and mesoporous textures consisting of high pore volume (ranging from 0.38 cm³.g^-1 to 2.00 cm³.g^-1) and specific (BET) surface areas from 299.9 m².g^-1 to 1285.1 m².g^-1 were obtained. Overall, soil amendment with biochars did not limit CLD environmental availability (environmental availability assay ISO/DIS 16751 Part B). When soil was amended with ACs, a significant reduction of the environmental availability in both artificial and natural soils was observed. AC soil amendment resulted in a reduced CLD transfer by at least 65% (P < 0.001) for all lignocellulosic matrices (excepted for coconut sample activated with steam, which displayed a 47% reduction). These features confirm that both pore structure and extent of porosity are of particular importance in the retention process of CLD in aged soil. Owing to its adsorptive properties, AC amendment of CLD-contaminated soils appears as a promising approach to reduce the pollutant transfer to fauna and biota.

Molecular Weight Cut-Off and Structural Analysis of Vacuum-Assisted Titania Membranes for Water Processing

This work investigates the structural formation and analyses of titania membranes (TM) prepared using different vacuum exposure times for molecular weight (MW) cut-off performance and oil/water separation. Titania membranes were synthesized via a sol-gel method and coated on macroporous alumina tubes followed by exposure to a vacuum between 30 and 1200 s and then calcined at 400 °C. X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption analyses showed that the crystallite size and particle size of titania increased as a function of vacuum time. All the TM membranes were mesoporous with an average pore diameter of ~3.6 nm with an anatase crystal morphology. Water, glucose, sucrose, and polyvinylpyrrolidone with 40 and 360 kDa (PVP-40 kDa and PVP-360 kDa) were used as feed solutions for MW cut-off and hexadecane solution for oil filtration investigation. The TM membranes were not able to separate glucose and sucrose, thus indicating the membrane pore sizes are larger than the kinetic diameter of sucrose of 0.9 nm, irrespective of vacuum exposure time. They also showed only moderate rejection (20%) of the smaller PVP-40 kDa, however, all the membranes were able to obtain an excellent rejection of near 100% for the larger PVP-360 kDa molecule. Furthermore, the TM membranes were tested for the separation of oil emulsions with a high concentration of oil (3000 ppm), reaching high oil rejections of more than 90% of oil. In general, the water fluxes increased with the vacuum exposure time indicating a pore structural tailoring effect. It is therefore proposed that a mechanism of pore size tailoring was formed by an interconnected network of Ti–O–Ti nanoparticles with inter-particle voids, which increased as TiO₂ nanoparticle size increased as a function of vacuum exposure time, and thus reduced the water transport resistance through the TM membranes.

Graphene oxide with zinc partially substituted magnetite (GO–Fe1−xZnxOy) for the UV-assisted heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction

A series of graphene oxide (GO) and zinc partially substituted magnetite GO–Fe_1−xZn_xO_y (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.285) catalysts were synthesised through a precipitation-oxidation method.

The sacrificial role of graphene oxide in stabilising a Fenton-like catalyst GO–Fe3O4

GO–Fe₃O₄ confers superior catalytic efficiency, recyclability and longevity, via the oxidation of CC bonds, thus transferring electrons to Fe₃O₄.

Influence of surfactant alkyl length in functionalizing sol–gel derived microporous cobalt oxide silica

The size or alkyl chain length of cationic surfactants can be used to tailor both the pore morphology and the functionality or oxidation state of cobalt in silica materials.

Performance and long term stability of mesoporous silica membranes for desalination

This work shows the preparation of silica membranes by a two-step sol-gel method using tetraethyl orthosilicate in ethanolic solution by employing nitric acid and ammonia as co-catalysts. The sols prepared in pH 6 resulted in the lowest concentration of silanol (Si–OH) species to improve hydrostability and the optimized conditions for film coating. The membrane was tested to desalinate 0.3–15 wt % synthetic sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions at a feed temperature of 22 °C followed by long term membrane performance of up to 250 h in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution. Results show that the water flux (and salt rejection) decrease with increasing salt concentration delivering an average value of 9.5 kg m^–2 h^–1 (99.6%) and 1.55 kg m^–2 h^–1 (89.2%) from the 0.3 and 15 wt % saline feed solutions, respectively. Furthermore, the permeate salt concentration was measured to be less than 600 ppm for testing conditions up to 5 wt % saline feed solutions, achieving below the recommended standard for potable water. Long term stability shows that the membrane performance in water flux was stable for up to 150 h, and slightly reduced from thereon, possibly due to the blockage of large hydrated ions in the micropore constrictions of the silica matrix. However, the integrity of the silica matrix was not affected by the long term testing as excellent salt rejection of >99% was maintained for over 250 h.