Young Carbon Scientists

A topical collection in C (ISSN 2311-5629).

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Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, The City College of New York, 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, USA
Interests: adsorption and catalysis; nano-engineered materials; graphene-containing composites; surface chemistry of carbonaceous materials; surface reactivity; reactive adsorption; waste utilization; desulfurization of fuels; development of air and water filtration media; energy storage/supercapacitors; gas sensors

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Co-Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: carbon materials; catalysis; environment and energy; chemical reaction engineering; functional materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Co-Guest Editor
Interface Analysis Centre, School of Physics, HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
Interests: transmission electron microscopy; carbon; glassy carbon; activated carbon; graphene
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

Even though carbon-based materials such as char or soot are considered as among the oldest materials used by human beings, the discovery of fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and then graphene carbon science and technology to become one of the frontiers determining the development of a modern society. Recently, new materials based on carbons including composites have changed traditional views on the properties of materials revolutionizing various fields ranging from solid state physics, chemistry, electronic, sensing, mechanical, civil and chemical engineering, environmental protection and even medicine or biotechnology. Carbons contributed also to significant advances in energy related fields such as energy harvesting and storage, solar energy, energetic materials, or processes linked to alternative sources of energy such as fuel cells  

These new emerging fields attracted many young scientists with an intention to actively contribute to exciting discoveries advancing the progress of humanity in general. Their expertise is as broad and diverse as is the carbon research field.  To better recognize their specific contributions to the carbon science, the objective of this Special Issue is to collect the recent original works of young carbon researchers (below 40 years of age) and thus to acknowledge and promote their impact into advances in the carbon science and engineering.  Manuscripts can be submitted as original research papers, review articles, short communications, or perspectives. The most innovative works will receive a special recognition.

Prof. Dr. Teresa Bandosz
Prof. Dr. Manuel Fernando Ribeiro Pereira
Dr. Peter Harris
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. C is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Carbon materials
  • Activated carbons
  • Nanopores carbons
  • Carbon nanotubes
  • Fullerenes
  • Glassy carbons
  • Carbon fibers
  • Graphene
  • Graphite
  • Adsorption
  • Separation
  • Catalysis
  • Energy storage
  • Sensing
  • Environmental protection

Published Papers (3 papers)

2022

14 pages, 12277 KiB  
Article
Bottom-Up Synthesis Strategies Enabling the Investigation of Metal Catalyst-Carbon Support Interactions
by Hamed Bateni, Prathamesh T. Prabhu, Hannah E. Gebur and Jean-Philippe Tessonnier
C 2022, 8(3), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/c8030037 - 28 Jun 2022
Viewed by 2767
Abstract
The structural versatility and vibrant surface chemistry of carbon materials offer tremendous opportunities for tailoring the catalytic performance of supported metal nanoparticles through the modulation of interfacial metal-support interactions (MSI). MSI’s geometric and structural effects are well documented for these materials. However, other [...] Read more.
The structural versatility and vibrant surface chemistry of carbon materials offer tremendous opportunities for tailoring the catalytic performance of supported metal nanoparticles through the modulation of interfacial metal-support interactions (MSI). MSI’s geometric and structural effects are well documented for these materials. However, other potential support effects such as electronic metal-carbon interactions remain poorly understood. Such limitations are tied to constraints intrinsic to commonly available carbon materials such as activated carbon (e.g., microporosity) and the top-down approach that is often used for their synthesis. Nonetheless, it is crucial to understand the interplay between the structure, properties, and performance of carbon-supported metal catalysts to take steps toward rationalizing their design. The present study investigates promising and scalable bottom-up synthesis approaches, namely hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA), that offer great flexibility for controlling the carbon structure. The opportunities and limitations of the methods are discussed with a particular focus on harnessing the power of oxygen functionalities. A remarkable production yield of 32.8% was achieved for mesoporous carbons synthesized via EISA. Moreover, these carbon materials present similar external surface areas of 316 ± 19 m2/g and average pore sizes of 10.0 ± 0.1 nm while offering flexibility to control the oxygen concentration in the range of 5–26 wt%. This study provides the cornerstone for future investigations of metal-carbon support interactions and the rational design of these catalysts. Full article
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10 pages, 1964 KiB  
Communication
Burn Them Right! Determining the Optimal Temperature for the Purification of Carbon Materials by Combustion
by Emmanuel Picheau, Ferdinand Hof, Alain Derré, Sara Amar, Laure Noé, Marc Monthioux and Alain Pénicaud
C 2022, 8(2), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/c8020031 - 24 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2449
Abstract
A new purification procedure for carbon nanoforms is proposed. It was tested on multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) prepared by arc discharge, which is among the most challenging of cases due to the chemical and structural similarity between the MWCNTs and most of the [...] Read more.
A new purification procedure for carbon nanoforms is proposed. It was tested on multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) prepared by arc discharge, which is among the most challenging of cases due to the chemical and structural similarity between the MWCNTs and most of the impurities to be removed. Indeed, the various methods for synthesizing carbon nanoforms lead to a distribution of carbonaceous products, such as carbon shells, carbon spheres, fullerenes, and a variety of other species. Thus, many strategies to purify the desired products have been developed. Among the most successful ones, thermal oxidation (combustion) seems particularly efficient. To be successful while preserving a reasonable amount of MWCNTs, the combustion temperature has to be carefully selected. Moreover, the ideal combustion temperature does not only depend on the material to be treated but also on the overall system used to perform the reaction, including the reactor type and the parameters of the gaseous reactant. Typically, the optimization of the purification relies on multiple experiments and analysis of the products. However, to the best of our knowledge, a strategy to determine a priori the most suitable temperature has not been reported yet. We demonstrate here that a thermogravimetric method, namely the constant decomposition rate thermal analysis (CRTA), is particularly well adapted to answer this question. An isothermal treatment based on the results obtained from a CRTA program allowed arc-MWCNTs to be successfully purified from graphenic shells while optimizing the yield of the MWCNTs. This strategy is believed to be valuable not only for purifying MWCNTs but also for the purification of other carbonaceous forms, including new carbon nanoforms. Full article
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12 pages, 12257 KiB  
Article
Chemical Production of Graphene Oxide with High Surface Energy for Supercapacitor Applications
by Mehdi Karbak, Ouassim Boujibar, Sanaa Lahmar, Cecile Autret-Lambert, Tarik Chafik and Fouad Ghamouss
C 2022, 8(2), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/c8020027 - 7 May 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3881
Abstract
The chemical exfoliation of graphite to produce graphene and its oxide is undoubtedly an economical method for scalable production. Carbon researchers have dedicated significant resources to developing new exfoliation methods leads to graphene oxides with high quality. However, only a few studies have [...] Read more.
The chemical exfoliation of graphite to produce graphene and its oxide is undoubtedly an economical method for scalable production. Carbon researchers have dedicated significant resources to developing new exfoliation methods leads to graphene oxides with high quality. However, only a few studies have been dedicated to the effect of the starting graphite material on the resulting GO. Herein, we have prepared two different GOs through chemical exfoliation of graphite materials having different textural and structural characteristics. All samples have been subjected to structural investigations and comprehensive characterizations using Raman, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, TGA, N2 physisorption, and FTIR spectroscopy. Our results provide direct evidence of how the crystallite size of the raw graphite affects the oxidation degree, surface functionality, and sheet size of the resulting GO. Building on these significant understandings, the optimized GO achieves a highly specific capacitance of 191 F·g−1 at the specific current of 0.25 A·g−1 in an aqueous electrolyte. This superior electrochemical performance was attributed to several factors, among which the specific surface area was accessible to the electrolyte ions and oxygenated functional groups on the surface, which can significantly modify the electronic structure of graphene and further enhance the surface energy. Full article
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