abstract
Carbonaceous materials derived from biomass have been used as sustainable platforms for the growth of ZnO particles aiming the production of functional composite fillers. Kidney-bean pods were pyrolyzed by applying an experimental design that demonstrates that the specific surface area (S-BET) of biochar is improved with increasing pyrolysis temperature combined with a short air-oxidation time. Meanwhile, the graphitization degree and the electrical conductivity (EC) of biochars were negatively affected by increasing the air-oxidation time. The biochar sample with the higher EC and the one with the higher S-BET were selected to be functionalized with ZnO particles by a solvothermal methodology, obtaining composites with an EC and S-BET properties superior to the ZnO-rGO composite, in addition to a similar antibacterial activity. The developed ZnO-biochar composite structures, which are more ecological and biocompatible than the ZnO composites derived from graphene sheets, can be applied as electrically conductive and active fillers.
keywords
PYROLYSIS TEMPERATURE; AIR OXIDATION; GRAPHENE; NANOCOMPOSITES; ADSORPTION; WATER; NANOPARTICLES; EVOLUTION; GRASS; WOOD
subject category
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Chemistry
authors
Alves, Z; Ferreira, NM; Figueiredo, G; Mendo, S; Nunes, C; Ferreira, P
our authors
Cláudia Nunes
Assistant Researcher
Nuno Miguel Freitas Ferreira
Post-Doc Fellowship
Paula Celeste da Silva Ferreira
Coordinating Researcher
Zélia Ribeiro Alves
Junior ResearcherGroups
G2 - Photonic, Electronic and Magnetic Materials
G4 - Renewable Materials and Circular Economy
Projects
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
Projeto de Investigação Exploratória: Paula Ferreira (IF_Paula Ferreira)
Embalagens em biocompósitos para preservação ativa de alimentos (BIOFOODPACK)
acknowledgements
This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020 & LA/P/0006/2020), CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020) and i3N (UIDB/50025/2020 & UIDP/50025/2020). ZA and PF thank FCT for the grants PD/BD/117457/2016 and IF/00300/2015, respectively. This work was also supported by BIOFOODPACK project (M-ERA.NET2/0019/2016) and by national funds (OE), through FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of 29 August, changed by Law 57/2017, of 19 July. The NMR spectrometers are part of the National NMR Network (PTNMR) and are partially supported by Infrastructure Project Nr. 022161 (co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC).