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The selective conversion of biomass into high‐value carbon materials has recently been attracting increasing attraction. In this study, a microalga with a high nitrogen content, namely Spirulina platensis, was used as both the carbon and nitrogen precursors in the synthesis of sponge‐like nitrogen‐enriched carbon materials through a one‐step activation method with NaHCO3 as a green activator. The sponge‐like nitrogen‐enriched carbon materials obtained at different activation temperatures were systematically characterized by using SEM, N2 adsorption‐desorption, XRD, Raman, and XPS techniques. A series of tests were performed to investigate the electrochemical characteristics of the obtained carbon materials to determine their potential use as supercapacitors. The results show that sponge‐like nitrogen‐enriched carbon activated at 700 °C, which has a large BET surface area of 865 m2/g and a high nitrogen content of 7.5 wt%, gave the largest specific capacitance of 234.0 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g in a 6 M KOH electrolyte. High carb: A one‐step activation method is applied to convert nitrogen‐rich microalgae into nitrogen‐containing carbon materials, where NaHCO3 is used as a green activator. The sponge‐like nitrogen‐enriched carbon activated at 700 °C exhibits a large BET surface area of 865 m2/g and a high nitrogen content of 7.5 wt%. It shows a large specific capacitance of 234.0 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g in a 6 M KOH electrolyte when used as a supercapacitor electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Front Cover shows sponge‐like nitrogen‐containing carbon materials prepared by using a one‐step activation method from nitrogen‐rich microalgae biomass. A large Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 865 m2/g is obtained with a high nitrogen content of 7.5 wt %. This research provides a convenient and ecofriendly way to prepare high‐performance nitrogen‐containing carbons. More information can be found in the Article by Y. Liu et al. on page 646 in Issue 3, 2019 (DOI: 10.1002/celc.201801272). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invited for this month's cover picture is the group of Professor Shurong Wang from the State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization at Zhejiang University (China). The cover picture shows sponge‐like nitrogen‐containing carbon materials prepared by using a one‐step activation method from nitrogen‐rich microalgae biomass. Read the full text of the Article at 10.1002/celc.201801272. "A large Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 865 m2/g is obtained for sponge‐like carbon materials with a high nitrogen content of 7.5 wt %, which are prepared from nitrogen‐rich microalgae biomass. This research provides a convenient and ecofriendly way to prepare high‐performance nitrogen‐containing carbons. The obtained biomass‐derived carbon materials have a great potential in energy storage materials, catalyst supports, or pollutant adsorbents. In this work, the electrochemical properties of the carbon materials are studied to evaluate their performances as supercapacitor electrodes...." Find out more about the story behind the front cover research at 10.1002/celc.201801272. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]