{"title":"Nature’s blueprint for energy: biomass-derived heteroatom-doped graphene materials for advanced energy applications","authors":"Ali İhsan Kömür, Çağdaş Kızıl, Ceren Karaman","doi":"10.1007/s42823-025-00892-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The growing demand for clean energy and sustainable technologies has intensified the need for efficient energy storage systems (EES) that support renewable energy integration while minimizing environmental impact. Biomass, an abundant and renewable resource, presents a cost-effective and eco-friendly pathway for producing advanced carbon materials, particularly heteroatom-doped graphene derivatives. This transformation aligns with circular economy principles by converting waste streams into high-performance materials for EES applications. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of biomass-derived heteroatom-doped graphene materials, focusing on their synthesis, properties, and applications in electrochemical energy storage systems. It addresses a critical gap in the literature by systematically examining the relationship between biomass sources, doping strategies, and their impact on graphene’s electrochemical performance. The study highlights the role of heteroatom doping such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and boron in enhancing graphene’s structural and electronic properties. These modifications introduce active sites, improve conductivity, and facilitate ion storage and transport, resulting in superior energy density, cycling stability, and charge–discharge performance in devices such as sodium/lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells. Recent advancements in green synthesis methods, including pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, and chemical activation, are highlighted, focusing on their scalability and resource efficiency. By addressing both environmental and technological benefits, this review bridges the gap between laboratory research and practical applications. It underscores the critical role of biomass-derived graphene in achieving sustainable energy solutions and advancing the circular economy, offering a roadmap for future innovations in this rapidly evolving field.</p><h3>Graphical abstract</h3><p>Schematic representation of the transformation of diverse biomass resources into heteroatom-doped graphene derivatives through pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, and chemical/physical activation processes. These advanced carbon materials exhibit enhanced properties for applications in electrochemical energy storage systems, including batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells.</p>\n<div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":506,"journal":{"name":"Carbon Letters","volume":"35 3","pages":"919 - 961"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s42823-025-00892-9.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Carbon Letters","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42823-025-00892-9","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The growing demand for clean energy and sustainable technologies has intensified the need for efficient energy storage systems (EES) that support renewable energy integration while minimizing environmental impact. Biomass, an abundant and renewable resource, presents a cost-effective and eco-friendly pathway for producing advanced carbon materials, particularly heteroatom-doped graphene derivatives. This transformation aligns with circular economy principles by converting waste streams into high-performance materials for EES applications. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of biomass-derived heteroatom-doped graphene materials, focusing on their synthesis, properties, and applications in electrochemical energy storage systems. It addresses a critical gap in the literature by systematically examining the relationship between biomass sources, doping strategies, and their impact on graphene’s electrochemical performance. The study highlights the role of heteroatom doping such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and boron in enhancing graphene’s structural and electronic properties. These modifications introduce active sites, improve conductivity, and facilitate ion storage and transport, resulting in superior energy density, cycling stability, and charge–discharge performance in devices such as sodium/lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells. Recent advancements in green synthesis methods, including pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, and chemical activation, are highlighted, focusing on their scalability and resource efficiency. By addressing both environmental and technological benefits, this review bridges the gap between laboratory research and practical applications. It underscores the critical role of biomass-derived graphene in achieving sustainable energy solutions and advancing the circular economy, offering a roadmap for future innovations in this rapidly evolving field.
Graphical abstract
Schematic representation of the transformation of diverse biomass resources into heteroatom-doped graphene derivatives through pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, and chemical/physical activation processes. These advanced carbon materials exhibit enhanced properties for applications in electrochemical energy storage systems, including batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells.
期刊介绍:
Carbon Letters aims to be a comprehensive journal with complete coverage of carbon materials and carbon-rich molecules. These materials range from, but are not limited to, diamond and graphite through chars, semicokes, mesophase substances, carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, graphenes, carbon blacks, activated carbons, pyrolytic carbons, glass-like carbons, etc. Papers on the secondary production of new carbon and composite materials from the above mentioned various carbons are within the scope of the journal. Papers on organic substances, including coals, will be considered only if the research has close relation to the resulting carbon materials. Carbon Letters also seeks to keep abreast of new developments in their specialist fields and to unite in finding alternative energy solutions to current issues such as the greenhouse effect and the depletion of the ozone layer. The renewable energy basics, energy storage and conversion, solar energy, wind energy, water energy, nuclear energy, biomass energy, hydrogen production technology, and other clean energy technologies are also within the scope of the journal. Carbon Letters invites original reports of fundamental research in all branches of the theory and practice of carbon science and technology.