Scientists have found a novel way to make high-tech energy storage devices from your neighbourhood tree.
Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) found that cellulose - the most abundant organic polymer on earth and a key component of trees - can be heated in a furnace in the presence of ammonia and turned into the building blocks for supercapacitors.
Dense Trees Protect Plant Species from Climate Change
A new study reveals that forests that contain dense trees develop a microclimate in which cold-adapted plant species are protected by climate change.
Advertisement
These supercapacitors are extraordinary, high-power energy devices with a wide range of industrial applications - in everything from electronics to automobiles and aviation.
The new approach can produce nitrogen-doped, nanoporous carbon membranes - the electrodes of a supercapacitor - during a low cost environment-friendly process.
![Coniferous Trees may Actually Influence Climate!]( "Coniferous Trees may Actually Influence Climate!")
Coniferous trees emit pine-scented vapors that form particles, reflect sunlight and promote cloud formation, a new study has found
The only byproduct is methane which could be used immediately as a fuel or for other purposes.
"The ease, speed and potential of this process is really exciting," said Xiulei (David) Ji, an assistant professor of chemistry in the OSU College of Science.
"For the first time we have proven that you can react cellulose with ammonia and create these N-doped nanoporous carbon membranes," Ji added.
This research opens a whole new scientific area, studying reducing gas agents for carbon activation.
"We are going to take cheap wood and turn it into a valuable high-tech product," he noted.
These carbon membranes at the nano-scale are extraordinarily thin - a single gram of them can have a surface area of nearly 2,000 square metres.
That is part of what makes them useful in supercapacitors.
And the new process used to do this is a single-step reaction that is fast and inexpensive.
Supercapacitors can be used in computers and consumer electronics, such as the flash in a digital camera.
They have applications in heavy industry, and are able to power anything from a crane to a forklift.
A supercapacitor can capture energy that might otherwise be wasted, such as in braking operations.
"If we use this very fast, simple process to make these devices much less expensive, there could be huge benefits," Ji said in a study published in Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society.
Source: IANS
Coniferous Trees may Actually Influence Climate!
Coniferous trees emit pine-scented vapors that form particles, reflect sunlight and promote cloud formation, a new study has found
Advertisement
The only byproduct is methane which could be used immediately as a fuel or for other purposes.
"The ease, speed and potential of this process is really exciting," said Xiulei (David) Ji, an assistant professor of chemistry in the OSU College of Science.
"For the first time we have proven that you can react cellulose with ammonia and create these N-doped nanoporous carbon membranes," Ji added.
This research opens a whole new scientific area, studying reducing gas agents for carbon activation.
"We are going to take cheap wood and turn it into a valuable high-tech product," he noted.
These carbon membranes at the nano-scale are extraordinarily thin - a single gram of them can have a surface area of nearly 2,000 square metres.
That is part of what makes them useful in supercapacitors.
And the new process used to do this is a single-step reaction that is fast and inexpensive.
Supercapacitors can be used in computers and consumer electronics, such as the flash in a digital camera.
They have applications in heavy industry, and are able to power anything from a crane to a forklift.
A supercapacitor can capture energy that might otherwise be wasted, such as in braking operations.
"If we use this very fast, simple process to make these devices much less expensive, there could be huge benefits," Ji said in a study published in Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society.
Source: IANS
Older Trees More Efficient in Storing Carbon Than Younger Trees
Older trees grow faster and are more efficient in storing carbon from the atmosphere compared to younger trees, a new study reveals.
Advertisement
Temperature is the Most Significant Driver of the World's Tallest TreesUnderstanding forest biodiversity is an important area of ecological research and how carbon dioxide is stored within trees. | Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Latest Research News
Tobacco smoke contains toxic chemicals which damage lungs, weaken the immune system and cause tuberculosis.
Identifying an unappreciated relationship between brain shape and activity overturns the century-old paradigm emphasizing the importance of complex brain connectivity.
Decoding the eight factors affecting Black adults' life expectancy.
Sobering truth about foot travel in the United States emerges from international statistics, highlighting the prevalence of walking on the Blacksburg campus.
Unveiling a hidden mechanism, proteins within brain cells exhibit newfound abilities at synapses, reinforcing Darwin's theory of adaptation and diversity in the natural world.