Synthesis of hierarchically porous carbon materials by zinc salts-assisted carbonization of biomass and organic solid wastes

Herein, we report a general and simple zinc salts-assisted method for the synthesis of HPCs with varied porosity and chemical functionalities by the direct carbonization of diverse biomass and wastes.

During the carbonization, zinc salts are thermally decomposed into nanoparticles that serve as in-situ templates to introduce nanopores in carbons. The prepared HPCs exhibit high specific surface areas (up to 2432 m2 g−1), large pore volumes (up to 4.30 cm3 g−1), and broad pore size distributions. Moreover, the zinc salts can be recovered and recycled, supporting the sustainable production of HPCs on large scale.