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The predominant adhesives currently utilized in the wood sector are sourced from petroleum. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that fossil resources possess a limited supply, and their extraction procedures can lead to adverse effects on the ecosystem. Renewable biomass resources have important application prospects in wood adhesives. This paper reviews the recent research progress on utilizing biomass to replace or modify conventional petroleum-based adhesives, focusing on the application of tannin, lignin, protein, starch, and cellulose in urea–formaldehyde (UF), melamine, phenol–formaldehyde (PF), epoxy (EP), and polyurethane (PU) resin adhesives. The symbiosis of renewable biomass with conventional petroleum-based adhesives portends substantial advancements for the wood adhesive industry. This review evaluates the substitution capacity and modification effect of biomass, discusses its application prospects in the wood-based panel industry, and predicts the future direction of biomass in wood adhesives, providing new inspirations for the development of novel green adhesives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass-derived heteroatom doped porous carbon is a hot electrode material for supercapacitors. Herein, nitrogen and oxygen co-doped porous carbon sheets are prepared by one-step carbonization-activation of hybrids of soybean protein isolate and zinc chloride (ZnCl2). The effect of the mass ratio between the activator and carbon precursor on the microstructure as well as the electrochemical performance of the materials is investigated. The activated samples show enhanced specific surface area, preferably up to 1034.33 m2 g−1, which is dominated by micropores and mesopores. More interestingly, ZnCl2 incorporation can improve the doping rate of nitrogen and oxygen elements from 4.5 at% to 6.37 at%, and 12.89 at% to 13.58 at%, respectively. Ultimately, the porous carbon sheets exhibit good capacitive performance in 6 M KOH electrolyte, and the specific capacitance could reach 210.47 F g−1 in a three-electrode system. In a two-electrode system, a capacitance retention of 93.02% can be achieved after 10 000 cycles at 20 A g−1. In addition, the optimized sample shows a maximum energy density of 16.27 W h kg−1 and a maximum power density of 8.44 kW kg−1. This work indicates that the soybean protein-derived porous carbon sheets are promising electrode materials for supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La–Mn bimetal oxide nanofibers, used as an adsorbent for the defluoridation of water, were synthesized by an electrospinning and heat treatment technology. The La–Mn bimetal oxide nanofiber adsorbent with a specific surface area of 35.064 m2 g−1 displayed a good defluoridation performance. Both the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium for fluoride (F−) uptake onto La–Mn bimetal oxide nanofibers were investigated. The kinetic studies established that the adsorption attained equilibrium at about 90 min, and the PSO kinetic model was ideal for the kinetic data under 20 and 50 mg L−1. The Langmuir maximum F− uptake was computed to be 189.39 mg g−1 at 308 K and pH 3. A thermodynamic study affirmed a feasible, endothermic, spontaneous and entropy driven process of F− adsorption towards La–Mn bimetal oxide nanofibers at the studied temperature range. Except for the competitive adsorption of PO43− and F−, the presence of NO3−, CO32−, Cl− and SO42− had little effect on fluoride removal. The La–Mn bimetal oxide adsorbent exhibited a good reusability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flax fibers, with abundant resources and a low cost, are an excellent precursor of carbon fibers for supercapacitors. At present, they are very attractive for designing electrodes with high electrochemical performance via a simple and green way. Hence, we systemically control the specific surface area and pore structure of flax-based carbon fibers by impregnating them with zinc chloride (ZnCl2) solution. The results show that the dehydration and expansion effects of ZnCl2 affect the microstructure, which is directly related to the specific capacitance. After activation, the optimized electrode exhibited the highest specific capacitance of 105 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, which has been improved by more than 10 times compared to that of pure-flax based carbon fibers. Moreover, they also show an excellent cycling stability of 98.7% after 10 000 cycles, even at a high current density of 10 A g−1. These results further demonstrate that flax-based electrodes have potential to be applied to some relevant energy storage applications in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a crucial role in sustainable energy conversion and storage including water splitting, fuel cells, and metal–air batteries. The design and exploration of earth-abundant OER electrocatalysts with low cost, high-performance, and durability are of paramount importance. Nanoarray catalysts constructed on free-standing carbon substrates have drawn significant attention owing to their high conductivity, fascinating nanostructures, and abundant active sites. This review presents recent progress toward advanced self-supported catalysts for the OER. We have systematically overviewed diverse synthetic approaches for the preparation of self-supported electrocatalysts with selected examples of metal oxides, metal hydroxides/oxyhydroxides, metal phosphides, metal sulfides, metal selenides, and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives. State-of-the-art strategies to improve OER catalytic activity and stability of self-supported catalysts are provided including interface and defect engineering as well as heteroatom-doping. Finally, an overview of current challenges and future prospects for developing more promising carbon substrate supported nanoarray catalysts is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the electrochemical properties of LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (NCM) materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), TiO2-coated Mg–Zr co-doped NCM cathode materials (MZT-NCM) were fabricated via a two-step solid-state method using Mg(OH)2, Zr(OH)4 and Ti(OH)3 as Mg, Zr and Ti sources, respectively. The electrochemical characteristics were assessed by the hybrid pulse power characteristic (HPPC) test, galvanostatic charge–discharge, EIS and CV test. Compared with NCM, the electrochemical properties of MZT-NCM as a cathode material in a pouch-cell were enhanced, especially high power performance and the stability of long cycle life. The MZT-NCM exhibits an excellent power performance of 2051 W, compared to that of the NCM, which only achieves 1736 W at 50% state of charge (SOC). Furthermore, the MZT-NCM samples deliver an outstanding capacity retention rate of 91.10% after 7000 cycles at 3C, which is nearly 10% higher than that of NCM. The modification strategy has a positive effect on the electrochemical characteristics of NCM cathode materials, which is expected to provide meaningful guidance for developing high power and long cycle life LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]