Fabrication of biomass-based functional carbon materials for energy conversion and storage

Abstract

With the increasing attention to energy and environmental issues, the high-efficiency utilization of biomass becomes an exciting new field in the science and technology. Biomass-based functional carbon materials (BFCs) with renewability, flexible structural tunability and diverse physicochemical properties have shown encouraging and bright prospects in the fields of energy conversion and storage. In this review, the recent advances of BFCs in energy conversion and storage are summarized and highlighted, which will shed new lights on the emerging applications of BFCs in wide fields. We comprehensively summarize the synthesis methods of BFCs, which include the strategies of carbonization, activation and functionalization. From the perspectives of multi-dimensional carbon material engineering, the structures and properties of BFCs are presented and analyzed. The recent advances in energy-oriented emerging applications, including photo-catalysis, electro-catalysis, solar cells, supercapacitors, metal ion batteries and microbial fuel cells are systematically summarized and highlighted. Then, this review gives a focus on the significance of establishing the relationship between the structure and performance of BFCs. Finally, the remaining major challenges and opportunities for BFCs in the future are discussed and outlined.