Fabrication of N‐doped Porous Carbon Materials by Biomass Carbonization for Energy Storage, Electroanalysis and Metal Ion Removal.

In this work, nitrogen‐doped porous carbons (NDPCs) were prepared by one‐step carbonization of biomass using Sargassum thunbergii as a model for energy storage, electroanalysis, and metal ion removal. The pore structures of NDPCs can be adjusted by changing the pyrolysis temperature (600–800 °C). It was discovered that NDPCs‐700 as a supercapacitor electrode material could display acceptable specific capacitance of 177 F g−1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte at current density of 0.2 A g−1 with good cycling stability (capacitance retention of 95 % after 2000 cycles), owing to its unique micro‐meso hierarchical pore structure, good conductivity and high nitrogen content (4.61 %). Also, it could act as an electrochemical sensing material, showing good electrocatalytic performance for dopamine (DA) detection in the dynamic detection range of 1.0 to 120 μM with a detection limit of 0.382 μM. Besides, the so fabricated multifunctional material can allow for the removal of metal ions like Hg2+ with high efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]