Synthesis of cobalt-impregnated carbon composite derived from a renewable resource: Characterization and catalytic performance evaluation

Dong-Wan Cho; Kwang-Hwa Jeong; Sohyun Kim; Daniel C W Tsang; Yong Sik Ok; Hocheol Song

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.187

Synthesis of cobalt-impregnated carbon composite derived from a renewable resource: Characterization and catalytic performance evaluation

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Jan 15:612:103-110. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.187. Epub 2017 Sep 1.

Authors

Dong-Wan Cho¹, Kwang-Hwa Jeong², Sohyun Kim¹, Daniel C W Tsang³, Yong Sik Ok⁴, Hocheol Song⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Republic of Korea.
² Livestock Air Quality Lab, Animal Environment Division, National Institute of Animal Science, 1500 Kongjwipatjwi-ro, Iseo-myeon, Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do 55365, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ Korea Biochar Research Center, School of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea; O-Jeong Eco-Resilience Institute (OJERI), Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: hcsong@sejong.ac.kr.

PMID: 28846901
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.187

Abstract

A novel nitrogen-doped biochar embedded with cobalt (Co-NB) was fabricated via pyrolysis of glucose pretreated with melamine (N donor) and Co(II). The Co-NB showed high catalytic capability by converting p-nitrophenol (PNP) into p-aminophenol (PAP) by NaBH₄. The analyses of FE-SEM, TEM, BET, XRD, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS of the Co-NB showed hierarchical porous structure (BET 326.5m²g^-1 and pore volume: 0.2403cm³g^-1) with well-dispersed Co nanoparticles (20-60nm) on the N-doped graphitic biochar surface. The Co-NB showed higher PNP reduction capability compared to the Co-biochar without N-doping, achieving 94.3% removal within 4min at 0.24gL^-1 catalyst dose and initial concentration of 0.35mM PNP. Further conversion experiments under varying environmental conditions (e.g., NaBH₄ concentration (7.5-30mM), biochar dosage (0.12-1.0gL^-1), initial PNP concentration (0.08-0.17mM)) were conducted in batch mode. The reusability of Co-NB was validated by the repetitive conversion experiments (5cycles). The overall results demonstrated biochar potential as catalysts for environmental applications if properly designed.

Keywords: Catalytic reduction; Electron shuttle; Engineered biochar; Glucose; Nitrogen doping; p-Nitrophenol.