From Renewable Biomass to Nanomaterials: Does Biomass Origin Matter?

Abstract The swift advancement of sustainable energy technologies, coupled with the urgent need to address environmental challenges, has generated considerable interest in the multifaceted applications of biochar materials to promote energy, water, and environmental sustainability. This comprehensive review examines recent advancements in the production and applications of functionalized biochar materials, emphasizing their pivotal roles in energy conversion and storage, wastewater treatment, CO 2 reduction, soil amelioration, and the promotion of carbon neutrality within a circular economy framework. The functionalization of biochar materials involves surface chemistry and porosity modifications, achieved through techniques like templating, chemical activation, metal impregnation, or heteroatom doping. These modifications substantially enhance the catalytic activity, energy storage capacity, and cycling stability of biochar materials, making them particularly effective in diverse energy applications such as water splitting, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. Additionally, functionalized biochar materials demonstrate remarkable efficacy as catalysts and adsorbents in wastewater treatment, proficiently removing pollutants like heavy metals, organic contaminants, and nutrients, thereby facilitating resource recovery from wastewater. The review also underscores the potential of functionalized biochar materials in CO 2 capture and conversion, exploring innovative strategies to augment their CO 2 adsorption capacity and state-of-the-art catalytic processes for transforming captured CO 2 into valuable fuels and chemicals. In summary, this review offers valuable insights into the recent advancements in biochar research, underscoring its substantial commercial potential as a versatile material contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable future. Article Highlights The current status of biochar research is comprehensively reviewed. The potential of biochar in energy, water, and environmental fields is critically examined. Technology readiness levels (TRLs) of various biochar-based technologies are evaluated. Graphical Abstract 

Harnessing the power of functionalized biochar: progress, challenges, and future perspectives in energy, water treatment, and environmental sustainability

Adsorptive properties of rod-shaped silver nanoparticles-functionalized biogenic hydroxyapatite for remediating methylene blue and congo red

Algae, comprising microalgae and macroalgae, have emerged as a promising feedstock for the production of functional biochar. Recently, the application of algal biochar in environmental remediation gains increasing attention. This review summarizes research advancements in the synthesis and application of algal biochar, a versatile and sustainable material for environmental remediation ranging from wastewater treatment to soil improvement. Algal biochar can be prepared by pyrolysis, microwave-assisted pyrolysis, and hydrothermal carbonization. Physical and chemical modifications have proven to be effective for improving biochar properties. Algal biochar is promising for removing diverse pollutants including heavy metals, organic pollutants, and microplastics. The role in soil improvement signifies a sustainable approach to enhancing soil structure, nutrient retention, and microbial activity. Research gaps are identified based on current understanding, necessitating further exploration into variations in biochar characteristics, the performance improvement, large-scale applications, and the long-term evaluation for environmental application. This review provides a better understanding of algal biochar as a sustainable and effective tool in environmental remediation. 

Research advances on production and application of algal biochar in environmental remediation.

Two functionalized biochar composites (ZF@CBC and SZF@CBC) were fabricated and applied for capturing Pb(II) and Cd(II) from wastewater. SZF@CBC were achieved by loading Zn/Fe nanoparticles (NPs) and coating starch onto corn cobs biochar (CBC) surface, while ZF@CBC was realized by loading Zn/Fe NPs onto CBC surface. The characterization analysis (SEM-EDS, XRD and FTIR) revealed that Zn/Fe NPs and starch were successfully introduced onto CBC surface. The adsorption data of Pb(II) and Cd(II) by ZF@CBC and SZF@CBC conformed to the model of pseudo second order kinetic and Langmuir isothermal and the capture Pb(II) and Cd(II) was a chemisorption process. The maximum sorption capacities of SZF@CBC for Pb(II) and Cd(II) reached 199.98 mg/g and 183.93 mg/g, which were 3.37 and 3.84 times high as that of CBC, respectively. Due to the presence of plentiful exposed adsorption sites (–OH, –COOH, Zn-O and Fe-O) on SZF@CBC surface, which endowed it to accelerate Pb(II) and Cd(II) adsorption. In addition, complexation, electrostatic attraction, ion exchange and physical adsorption took part in the adsorption process. Besides, SZF@CBC still exhibited very good removal capacity for Pb(II) and Cd(II) even in the coexistence of multiple interfering ions and maintained stable adsorption capacity after five consecutive cycles. Therefore, SZF@CBC could be used as an excellent adsorbent for decontaminating Pb(II) and Cd(II) from wastewater with multiple pollutants, and also could be used in resource utilization of biomass waste, which possessed potential applications prospects. 

Unraveling adsorption characteristics and removal mechanism of novel Zn/Fe-bimetal-loaded and starch-coated corn cobs biochar for Pb(II) and Cd(II) in wastewater

Facile Preparation of Alveolate Biochar Derived from Seaweed Biomass with Potential Removal Performance for Cationic Dye

Abstract In this study, the synchronous magnetized carbonization method was utilized for preparing photocatalysis ZnO-Fe@SC heterostructure, which exhibited degradation efficiency 99.14% (60 min) for malachite green (200 mg/L) and could still maintain good performance after 5 cycles. The prepared ZnO-Fe@SC was analyzed using UV–Vis DRS, PL, SEM, TEM, BET, FTIR, XPS and VSM, and LC–MS for degradation products. The results indicate that photocatalyst has favorable magnetic properties, chemical stability and low charge carriers (e − /h + ) recombination rate. The modification of bimetals enables the composite photocatalyst to enhance the intensity of photogenerated electron transition. Moreover, quenching experiment revealed that the photo-generated holes (h + ) and superoxide radicals (·O 2− ) were the dominant active species during the photocatalytic process, which degraded malachite green into small molecules by demethylation, deamination, ring-opening reactions as deducted from LC–MS analysis. ZnO-Fe@SC was prepared using a green, safe, low cost and operable synthetic method, which has a broad market potential in the field of environmental remediation. Graphical Abstract 

/pdf/zn-fe-bimetallic-modified-spartina-alterniflora-derived-i28c9i55.pdf

Zn/Fe bimetallic modified Spartina alterniflora-derived biochar heterostructure with superior catalytic performance for the degradation of malachite green

Spartina alterniflora, as an invasive alien species, has been studied in terms of its potential use in immobilization and synergistic photocatalysis against dye contaminants for the first time. Microscopic characterization and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results confirmed the presence of abundant 3D wormhole-like pore structures and active functional groups (-OH, -NH2, CO, Si-O-Si). Moreover, the existence of SiO2 was connected the metal oxides with polar groups, which could proceed entire reaction procedure subsequently. Transition metal oxides (such as Fe2O3, TiO2, MnO2 and NiO) contained in photocatalysts might effectively promote the organics decomposition by the visible light excitation. The highest dye removal efficiency of 92.03% could be reached with the addition of 0.02 g photocatalyst. The capture experiment confirmed that the h+ was the dominant active substance during the photocatalytic degradation process. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verified that the functional groups (-COOH, -OH and -NH2) were exceptional adsorption sites for catalyst, and the calculated adsorption energy were all negative with the order of SRHH-NH2 (-2.712688 eV) < SRHH-OH (-2.075601 eV) < SRHH-COOH (-1.283141 eV), which confirmed that interface interaction effectively bound cationic dyes through the formation of hydrogen bonds at the catalysts-water interface, further accelerating the reaction rate of the entire photocatalytic reduction of dye molecules. Therefore, this work provides a feasible synthesis of natural photocatalysts using solid waste, which suggests excellent adsorption and photocatalysis properties for the treatment of organic industrial pollutant.

Analysis of natural photocatalysts derived from spartina alterniflora with superior removal performance of pollutant.

In this study, an activated biochar derived from Spartina alterniflora (SRHH) was innovatively synthesized to efficiently remove dye contaminants from aqueous solution. A series of characterizations exhibited that solvothermal process effectively increased the mesopores and functional group structure (OH, NHR, CO, CO and RNCO) of the nanomaterial, which could also acquire amorphous carbon-doped biochar with less energy consumption. Moreover, the results showed that the as-prepared sample in a solvothermal kettle at 180 °C displayed superior dye adsorption and degradation performance, and the removal efficiency entirely could reach up to 93% within 4 h at neutral condition. The adsorption process was both consistent well with the pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models, indicating that diffusion resistance within the particle pore size and chemical action might be predominantly controlled factor. Therefore, the prepared catalyst has enormous potential in the removal of organic pollution as a low-cost and economical in-situ remediation material. 

Superior removal performance for methylene blue onto Spartina alterniflora biochar via solvothermal method: Equilibrium, kinetics and mechanism analyses

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Facile Preparation of Alveolate Biochar Derived from Seaweed Biomass with Potential Removal Performance for Cationic Dye

Zn/Fe bimetallic modified Spartina alterniflora-derived biochar heterostructure with superior catalytic performance for the degradation of malachite green

Analysis of natural photocatalysts derived from spartina alterniflora with superior removal performance of pollutant.

Superior removal performance for methylene blue onto Spartina alterniflora biochar via solvothermal method: Equilibrium, kinetics and mechanism analyses