Sustainable Carbon Materials and Applications via Hydrothermal Carbonization

The creation of new and very importantly greener industries and new sustainable pathways are crucial to create a world in which energy use needs not be limited and where usable energy can be produced and stored wherever it is needed.
New materials based on carbon, ideally produced via inexpensive, low energy consumption methods, using renewable resources as precursors, with flexible morphologies, pore structures and functionalities, are increasingly viewed as ideal candidates to fulfill these goals. The resulting materials should be a feasible solution for the efficient storage of energy and gases.
Hydrothermal carbonization [1] is an ideal technology for the production of such low-cost but highly performing materials out of the most abundant renewable resource on the planet, i.e. lignocellulosic biomass. The practical approach is very simple and consists in placing a biomass precursor inside an autoclave, in water, followed by hydrothermal treatment overnight at 160-200°C. Since the production of carbon materials in general implies harsher and multi-step methodologies, this process has clear advantages, being greener, economical, mild and fast.
During my talk, I wish to present some of our latest results on the production and characterization of nanostructured hydrothermal carbons and their use in renewable energy related applications, mainly as electrodes in Li-S Batteries [2], and as well metal free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells [3] and as efficient CO2 adsorbents [4]

[1] M.-M. Titirici, R. J. White, C. Falco, M. Sevilla, Energy & Environmental Science 2012, 5, 6796-6822.
[2] N. Brun, K. Sakaushi, L. Yu, L. Giebeler, J. Eckert, M. M. Titirici, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2013, 15, 6080-6087.
[3] S.-A. Wohlgemuth, R. J. White, M.-G. Willinger, M.-M. Titirici, M. Antonietti, Green Chemistry 2012, 14, 1515-1523.
[4] M. Sevilla, C. Falco,M. M. Titirici, A. B. Fuertes, RSC Advances, 2012, 2, 12792–12797