New membrane types with well-controlled sub-nanostructures were developed from both polymeric and inorganic materials: carbon-based membranes, functionalized mesoporous oxide membranes and molecular sieving zeolite membranes. Regarding the carbon membranes, a novel carbon membrane with enhanced CO2 affinity was developed. The prepared membrane had a higher separation performance than that of th...

Mesoporous carbon (CMK-3) modified with Fe3O4 nanoparticles has been successfully synthesized and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).The results depict that the synthesized Fe-CMK-3 preserved the ordered mesoporous structure of CMK-3, and magnetic species were dispersed insi...

Mesoporous silica-carbon composites functionalized with acidic oxygen groups were prepared by oxidation of a layer of carbon deposited inside the silica pores. The synthesis procedure involved the following steps: a) removal of the silica surfactant, b) impregnation of the silica pores with a carbon precursor, c) carbonization and d) oxidation with ammonium persulfate. The resulting silica-carb...

We demonstrate a sustainable and efficient approach to produce high performance sulfur/carbon composite cathodes via a bottom-up catalytic approach. The selective oxidation of H2S by a nitrogen-enriched mesoporous carbon catalyst can produce elemental sulfur as a by-product which in-situ deposit onto the carbon framework. Due to the metal-free catalytic characteristic and high catalytic selecti...

Nanostructured Co3O4 materials attracted significant attention due to their exceptional electrochemical (pseudo-capacitive) properties. However, rigorous preparation conditions are needed to control the size (especially nanosize), morphology and size distribution of the products obtained by conventional methods. Herein, we describe a novel one step shape-controlled synthesis of uniform Co3O4 na...

Over the past decade; a significant amount of research has been performed on novel carbon supports for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Specifically, carbon nanotubes, ordered mesoporous carbon, and colloid imprinted carbons have shown great promise for improving the activity and/or stability of Pt-based nanoparticle catalysts. In this work, a brief overview of these materia...

Lithium-sulfur battery (LSB) as one of the most promising energy storage devices suffers from poor conductivity of sulfur and fast capacity decay triggered by the dissolution of polysulfides. In this work, functionalized carbonized mesoporous wood fiber (f-CMWF) is employed as a host to accommodate sulfur for the first time. Natural wood microfiber has unique hierarchical and mesoporous structu...

Functional mesoporous carbon has been built using 1,10-phenanthroline as the fundamental building block, resulting in a nanoporous, high surface area sorbent capable of selectively binding transition metal ions. This material had a specific surface area of 870 m2/g, an average pore size of about 30 Å, and contained as much as 8.2 wt% N. Under acidic conditions, where the 1,10-phenanthroline lig...

In this work, a series of hollow carbon nanospheres simultaneously doped with N and Fe-containing species are prepared by Fe(3+)-mediated polymerization of dopamine on SiO2 nanospheres, carbonization and subsequent KOH etching of the SiO2 template. The electrochemical properties of the hollow nanospheres as nonprecious-metal electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are characterized...

A procedure for the fabrication of N-doped hollow carbon spheres with a high rate capability for supercapacitors has been developed. The approach is based on a nanocasting method and the use of a nitrogen-rich compound (pyrrole) as carbon precursor. The carbon particles thus produced combine a large BET surface area (~1500 m g) with a porosity made up of mesopores of ~ 4 nm and a high nitrogen ...