We use cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to browse this website, you agree to our use of cookies. More information.
Effective use of biological waste to reduce environmental pollution is critical to the long-term sustainability of the planet. A study published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering used waste grapefruit peels to synthesize multi-purpose nickel nanoparticles ingrained in nitrogen-based graphene-based carbon nanomaterials (Nix@NGC) with excellent electromagnetic properties.
Research: The construction of nickel nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen self-doped graphene-like carbon, which is derived from waste grapefruit peel, is used for multifunctional OER, HER and magnetic research. Photo Credit: Julia Manga/Shutterstock.com
In recent years, biomass has inherent characteristics such as low cost, reusability, and low toxicity, and is considered to be one of the potential substitutes for the production of multifunctional materials.
However, large amounts of biological waste from the agriculture, paper and furniture industries have not been properly managed. Some even burn harmful carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gas, causing environmental pollution.
Biomass-derived carbon materials have shown potential for applications in complex sensors and sustainable energy production and storage due to their excellent electromagnetic properties.
The inherent permeable structure of biomass can be effectively stored in the carbon material, which is beneficial to the conductivity of the electrolyte.
In addition, their large specific surface area improves the response speed and enhances the overall performance of the material.
Carbonization can change the electronic configuration and charge density of biomass by doping the carbon skeleton with heteroatoms, such as nitrogen or phosphorus naturally present in biomass.
However, due to the lack of effective active catalytic regions, there are problems in the effective utilization of biomass-derived carbon materials in water electrolysis.
Combining carbon nanomaterials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes with metal nanoparticles is an effective technology to solve this problem and expand its application in water electrolysis processes such as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER).
In addition to graphene or carbon nanotubes, biomass-derived carbon materials can also be combined with metal (Ni) nanoparticles, which can not only increase the application of HER and OER, but also reduce biological waste.
In this study, the researchers describe a simple immersion carbonization technique for manufacturing a series of nickel nanoparticles implanted with nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials (Nix @NGC) for multi-purpose OER, HER and magnetic Research.
Waste grapefruit peel is used as a carbon source in the synthesis process, and nickel nitrate hexahydrate is used as a nickel source.
Before using the grapefruit peel, scrape off the heavy outer layer with a razor blade and rinse it three times to remove any contaminants.
Then the grapefruit peel is cured at 80 degrees Celsius for 10 hours, and then crushed using a blender. Then, 3.5 g of the newly produced skin was dissolved in 8 mmol nitric acid to generate three separate Nix @NGC samples.
Researchers found that Nix @NGC nanocomposites made from discarded grapefruit peels have significant OER, HER and magnetism.
The excellent electrocatalytic performance of Nix @NGC is related to the formation of Ni. Ni provides a large number of active catalytic sites and direct contact between Ni nanostructures and conductive nitrogen-doped carbon, ensuring proper charge transport and structural adhesion.
The enhanced magnetic properties of the sample are related to the fact that increasing the temperature and the amount of Ni tends to reduce the Hc of the sample, which indicates that it may transform from a ferromagnetic material to a superparamagnetic material.
The results show that NGC nanocomposites containing 20% nickel can provide the best performance for OER, HER and applications.
The amount of carbonization, heating, and nickel can be used to control the electrocatalytic and magnetic properties of the material.
When biomass organics are carbonized, NGC nanocomposites reduce active nickel ions (Ni2+) to Ni to provide catalytic components in the process. The OER and HER conductances of the best nanocomposites are 360 mV and 165 mV in potassium oxide solution, respectively.
In this study, a simple impregnation carbonization technique was used to effectively produce multi-purpose nanomaterials with nitrogen doping and nickel deposition. The technique uses grapefruit peel as the carbon source and nickel nitrate hexahydrate as the carbon source as the nickel source.
The electrocatalytic and magnetic properties of the Ni @NGC material produced are very significant. In the future, this unique method can be used for environmentally friendly synthesis of multifunctional nanocomposite materials.
Continue reading: Overview of the synthesis and application of green nanoparticles.
He, F. etc. (2021) Construct nickel nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen self-doped graphene-like carbon, which is derived from waste grapefruit peel and used for multifunctional OER, HER and magnetic research. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 9(6), 106894. Website: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213343721018716
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those expressed by the author in a personal capacity, and do not necessarily represent the views of the owner and operator of this website, AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork. This disclaimer forms part of the terms and conditions of use of this website.
Hussain graduated from the Islamabad Institute of Space Technology with a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering. During his studies, he participated in a number of research projects related to aerospace materials and structures, computational fluid dynamics, nanotechnology and robotics. After graduation, he has been a freelance aerospace engineering consultant. He became interested in technical writing during the second year of his bachelor's degree and wrote several research articles in various publications. In his free time, he likes to write poems, watch movies and play football.
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your paper, essay, or report:
Ahmed, Hussein. (December 5, 2021). Green production of high-performance nanocomposites from grapefruit peel. AZoNano. Retrieved from https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38303 on December 6, 2021.
Ahmed, Hussein. "Green production of high-performance nanocomposites from grapefruit peels". AZoNano. December 6, 2021. <https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38303>.
Ahmed, Hussein. "Green production of high-performance nanocomposites from grapefruit peels". AZoNano. https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38303. (Accessed on December 6, 2021).
Ahmed, Hussein. 2021. Green production of high-performance nanocomposites of grapefruit peel. AZoNano, viewed on December 6, 2021, https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38303.
Do you have any comments, updates, or anything you want to add to this news story?
AZoNano talked to Dr. Jinian Yang about his participation in research on the benefits of flower-like nanoparticles on the performance of epoxy resins.
We discussed with Dr. John Miao that this research has changed our understanding of amorphous materials and what it means for the physical world around us.
We discussed NANO-LLPO with Dr. Dominik Rejman, a wound dressing based on nanomaterials that promotes healing and prevents infection.
The P-17 stylus profiler surface measurement system provides excellent measurement repeatability for consistent measurement of 2D and 3D topography.
The Profilm3D series provides affordable optical surface profilers that can generate high-quality surface profiles and true color images with unlimited depth of field.
Raith's EBPG Plus is the ultimate product of high-resolution electron beam lithography. EBPG Plus is fast, reliable and high-throughput, ideal for all your lithography needs.
AZoNano.com-AZoNetwork website
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2021